Jon Raine

“Educated at Newcastle School of Art, at 19 I landed a job as a junior creative for the London advertising agency CDP; my concepts received industry awards (D&AD, Cannes Advertising Festival, Creative Circle) and I worked on iconic campaigns like Benson & Hedges, Hamlet cigars and The Economist. This was at a time when people were not used to manipulated imagery and at the end of the analogue way of making constructed images with photography.

I returned to photography in my 30s as an advertising photographer, and my work gained recognition and awards from Creative Review, the Association of Photographers and the Royal Photographic Society. 

Today, with an MA in Fine Art, my technical understanding of real-world light is central to my work. Light is captured, simulated and controlled, then later sculpted; consequently, physical and virtual forms are made. 

I was diagnosed with dyslexia when at secondary school and was not able to read until receiving specialist tuition. Consequently, my work uses mostly visual language to convey my ideas and thoughts.”

Jon Raine’s artwork revolves around re-evaluating our perception of reality. Consistently captivated by the creation of concepts that offer fresh interpretations of our world, his work prompts us to perceive it in unique ways.

His virtual and 3D-printed light sculptures are computer-generated but crafted using the capture of scans and photographs from the real world. This fusion of virtual and physical realities allows us to see light in a solid form.

His indecipherable sculptures focus on neurodivergence, particularly literacy, dyslexia and language. The sculptures aim to initiate conversations about neurodivergence, challenge existing perceptions, and empower the next generation of diverse thinkers.

The sculptures consist of mixed-up words, sayings and sentences, with the letters, fused, making their content nearly impossible to decipher, inviting the viewer to engage in a process of unpuzzling their meaning. Each work is a visual onomatopoeia made from the letters of its title.