World News from Locust Jones

“World News from Locust Jones” is a publication in the form of a limited-edition poster book containing 42 loosely interleaved printed sheets that can be joined together to form one large overall image. The original measures 8.30 × 1.26 metres and was printed on newsprint-sized poster paper to facilitate direct installation on walls. The work by Australian artist Locust Jones features a motif created during the first lockdown in 2020, reflecting on news about the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of buzzwords or headlines that he has taken from the mass media. Supplemented by striking illustrations and all-black-and-white figures, the work aims to “stage the states of hysteria that accompanied this period – to produce art to go for this publication, so to speak”, as the artist puts it in his own words. Instead of sharing the news from social media, he recorded it like an observer and reproduced it in his characteristic style by bringing the “abnormal” on paper through blurs, stains or as if written by a child’s hand.