THE SNOW HAS GENTLY FALLEN
OUR LOVE LETTER TO JANET JONES
JANUARY 31 TO MARCH 14, 2026
OPENING RECEPTION:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2026
2 P.M. TO 5 P.M.
PATRICK MIKHAIL IN MONTRÉAL PRESENTS THE SNOW HAS GENTLY FALLEN | OUR LOVE LETTER TO JANET JONES
PATRICK MIKHAIL presents THE SNOW HAS GENTLY FALLEN | OUR LOVE LETTER TO JANET JONES, an exhibition of recent paintings by Canadian artist JANET JONES.
When our friend and gallery artist Janet Jones passed away unexpectedly in May 2025, we were left speechless. With this exhibition of works from Jones' archives, we attempt to find the words to pay tribute to an astonishingly talented woman artist and academic. As part of our presentation, we will be sharing a series of "Love Letters" from the people who knew Jones and her work the best: friends, fellow artists, curators, colleagues, and her students - posted throughout the duration of exhibition.
To participate in our project with a text, please send your submission to gallery@patrickmikhailgallery.com.
Born in Montréal in 1952, Janet Jones’ professional practice is rooted in her experiences as a young woman growing up in a working class, immigrant area of downtown Montréal - with socially/politically engaged parents. She viewed the urban environment through the lens of such concepts as public/private space, surveillance, gendered and racialized spaces, the techno-sublime, spectacle and feminist geography. As a woman abstract painter, most influenced by the lineage of geometric abstraction, including her early mentors, Guido Molinari and Yves Gaucher, she was always aware of the strong male tradition within this style. Her work both honours and critiques that past by testing it in both form and concept. Instead of seeing abstraction as autonomous, she chose to go against the grain; to create points of tension, collision, and intensity that reflect upon our current world.
Janet Jones earned a BFA in painting and photography from Concordia University, studying painting with Guido Molinari and Yves Gaucher; an MFA from York University; and a PhD from New York University. She was a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts, & Art History, York University, Toronto where she taught painting and graduate courses in contemporary theory. Jones’ work has been exhibited across Canada, and in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, England, Germany, France, and China. Her most recent projects included: Gathering Fictions: A Dialogue on Painting, at the Varley Art Gallery 2022; and PICTURA the Montréal Painting Biennale in 2020. Her work is in numerous public and corporate collections including; Musée d’art contemporain (MAC), Montréal; Winnipeg Art Gallery; MacLaren Art Centre; Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery; MacKenzie Art Gallery; The Schulich Collection, Toronto; BMO; TD Bank; AIMIA; and Google Corporation.