“We find ourselves on increasingly shaky ground – trapped as we are in an unstable present, with an uncertain past behind us, and a precarious future ahead.”


My practice is a meditation on the conflict between nature and culture, between the deep geological past and a profoundly uncertain future. It invokes current geopolitical realities, specifically our precarious relationship with the natural world, with our environment and our history, signifying upheaval and the destructive activities that alter and transform both physical and imagined landscapes.


Jonathan Alibone is a UK born artist based in Northampton, England, and is currently a resident at The Sanctuary studios. 

His practice articulates contemporary social, cultural, and environmental anxieties through the conventions of the landscape and Romantic traditions in Western art. By referencing geology and archaeological methodology, Alibone explores myths of origin and national identity within the present (and historical) context of uncertainty and rupture.

He has exhibited widely, including at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and his work features in collections throughout Europe, Russia and USA.  

Alibone has co-curated several exhibitions, and has collaborated on many projects, working in a variety of media, such as video, installation, and sound.


Upcoming Exhibition

'The Derwent Art Prize 2024', Gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge House St, London SE1 9PH, 4 – 14 April

Exhibitions

2023 'The Wales Contemporary', Waterfront Gallery, Milford Haven, Wales, UK,

2023 ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London UK

2023 'Wells Art Contemporary (WAC)',Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset, UK

2023 The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

2023 'Beneath the Earth', Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, UK

2023 'Contemporary Landscapes', Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, UK

2022 'SFSA Painting Open 2022', No Format Gallery, London UK

2022 AIR Gallery Open Exhibition, Altrincham, Manchester UK

2022 The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

2022 'SFSA Drawing Open 2022', No Format Gallery, London, UK

2022 'A Generous Space', Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, UK

2022 'The Environment', Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, UK

2022 'Room Share 2', Safehouse One, London, UK

2021 'Wells Art Contemporary (WAC) 2021', Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset, UK

2021 SGFA 'Centenary Exhibition Unlocked', The Mall Galleries, London, UK

2021 'Model / Maquette: Scale, Illusion and Space', The Cello Factory, London, UK

2020 ING Discerning Eye, virtual exhibition

2020 The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

2020 Beep Painting Prize, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK

2019 'Promise & Ruin', NN Contemporary Art Northampton, Northampton, UK

2019 'Paint', PS Mirabel, Manchester, UK

2019 'Wells Art Contemporary (WAC) 2019', Wells Cathedral, Wells, Somerset, UK

2019 'Let's talk about the Anthropocene', University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

2019 'Perfectly Formed', Andelli Art Gallery, Wells, Somerset, UK

2018-19 'The Derwent Art Prize', The Mall Galleries, London; Trowbridge Arts; the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick, Cumbria, UK

2018 'Second Floor Studios & Arts Painting Open 2018', No Format Gallery, London, UK

2018 'Wells Art Contemporary Awards 2018', Bishop’s Palace & Gardens, Wells, Somerset, UK

2018 'Twice As Nice', PS Mirabel Open Exhibition, PS Mirabel, Manchester, UK

2018 'Fold – Sanctuary Summer Show', The Artist Sanctuary, Northampton, UK

2018 'Tayne Painters', The Artist Sanctuary, Northampton, UK

2018 The Bath Open Art Prize 2018, 44ad artspace, Bath, UK

2018 NN Contemporary Art Open Exhibition 2018, NN Contemporary Art, Northampton, UK

2017 The London Group Open 2017, The Cello Factory, London

2017 'The Falls – Autumn Show', The Artist Sanctuary, Northampton, UK

2017 The Harley Open 2017, The Harley Gallery, Welbeck, UK

2017 'Small World', PS Mirabel, Manchester, UK

2017 The Martyrs' Gallery Summer Salon, Lewes, UK

2017 'Ground', Andelli Art Gallery, Wells, Somerset, UK

2016 'The Dark Arts', Candid Arts Trust, London

2016 'Wells Art Contemporary Awards 2016', The Bishop's Palace, Wells, Somerset

2016 'It's Art Call', D Contemporary Gallery, London

2016 The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London

2015 'Open Sesame', Artshed launch event, Atom Gallery, London

2015 'Miraculous Urgency', Now and Again Gallery, Brighton

2015 Leicester and East Midlands Open Art Exhibition, Newarke Houses Museum & Gardens, Leicester

2014 The Pros and The Cons, The Sanctuary, Northampton.

2014 NN Contemporary Open Exhibition Launch, NN Contemporary Art Northampton

2013 Small Acts of Detachment, Collective Collaborations, Market Walk, Northampton

2013 The Title Art Prize 2013, Blankspace, 43 Hulme Street, Manchester

2013 10 Years of The Sanctuary – Exhibition and Open Studios, The Sanctuary, Northampton

2013 The Cork Street Open Exhibition, The Gallery, 28 Cork Street, London

2013 To All Who Come To This Happy Place, Reading Room Gallery, Soho, London

2013 Deck the Walls, Opus Fine Art, Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire

2013 Crash Open Salon 2012, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London

2012 Project 2012: The End of The World Exhibition Finale, Mile End Art Pavilion, London

2012 Artefacts of Failure, Quad, Market Place, Derby

2012 The Cabinet Exhibition, Islington Arts Factory, London

2012 Past and Present, Occupy My Time Gallery, 9 Resolution Way, Deptford, London

2012 Project 2012 – The End of the World, The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea, London

2012 Answers on the Front of a Postcard, Opus Fine Art

2011-12 Crash Open 2011 – Charlie Dutton Gallery, London