Aaron Jones,
Lithic, 2026
In March, we had the pleasure of installing Lithic, a new work by the Toronto-based artist Aaron Jones, in our Grand Hall.
Jones, who works across media, often draws on found images and collage to create immersive, layered images. Lithic—from the Latin for “stone”—began as a paper collage and was digitally reworked for vinyl. The result brings together the artist’s own photographs with imagery sourced from print materials and deaccessioned books from the McMichael’s library, resulting in a richly textured site-specific composition.
In the foreground, glacial ice, shells, crystals, and rock formations converge into a monumental peak—materials shaped gradually over time, evoking endurance and resilience. Above, delicate iris blooms drift through a luminous, celestial space, their fragility set in contrast to the solidity below. A pair of hands enters from the upper left of the image, suggesting the presence of human or perhaps divine intervention within this imagined landscape.
For Jones, Lithic continues his ongoing exploration of identity. Moving here beyond his characteristic representations of the physical body, he considers how meaning and personhood can be expressed through material and environment. The physical qualities of stone and mineral become metaphors for strength and stability. “This is a piece about trying to find footing…or something grounded,” the artist reflects—an idea that resonates throughout this expansive and contemplative work.
Visitors seeking historic counterparts to Jones’s mystical mountain vision should check out the mountain landscapes of F.H. Varley and Lawren S. Harris on display in our current exhibition Old Growth—works that seek to describe an otherwordly spiritual dimension in the earthly matter of rocks and sky.
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