Mision San Diego de Alcala 1935 - 1942

James Jones made this drawing of Mision San Diego de Alcala using graphite on paper. The whole thing is built from tiny marks, and I mean tiny. Jones patiently built up the form of the building from what looks like thousands of tiny horizontal lines to represent the brickwork. It’s incredible, I mean, who has the time? The texture is everything here; from a distance it looks like an accurate architectural study but up close it dissolves into a mass of marks. I can't help thinking about Agnes Martin and her grids, the way her subtle lines create these shimmering fields of tone. This reminds me of that, but it's also something very different, this has a weight and solidity that Martin avoids. It's almost like Jones is trying to trap time, each mark a moment, a decision, a breath.