On Mark Leckey Jones had a public feud with artist
Mark Leckey, who won the
Turner Prize in 2008. By 2011,
Whitehot Magazine referred to "the ongoing 3-year battle" between the two. Later that year, Jones gave a highly negative review to Leckey's exhibition at the
Serpentine Gallery, describing it as being "full of lumbering inanities". The review provoked strong responses in art circles and close to 300 comments on
The Guardian's web page, including some 30 replies from Jones. Jones said in one: "So here is where I am really coming from... I believe ninety-five percent of the British contemporary art that is endlessly promoted by galleries, museums and the media is worthless". Writing in
frieze, Isobel Harbison called the review part of a "trend in broadsheet art criticism of opinion-mongering and reader-goading."
On Terry Pratchett In August 2015, shortly after the death of
Terry Pratchett, Jones wrote an article titled "Get real. Terry Pratchett is not a literary genius", criticising Pratchett's books as "ordinary potboilers" not worth the time to read. The piece attracted criticism including a response by
Sam Jordison on ''The Guardian's'' book blog, which defended Pratchett's work and criticised Jones for commenting on books despite admitting that he had not read them. Jones wrote a follow-up piece after reading
Small Gods, in which he referred to his initial column as his "most shameful moment as a critic". He praised some of the book's wit and entertainment value, but still found that its prose and characters fell short of what he considered
literary fiction.
On Grayson Perry Jones is a long-standing critic of
Grayson Perry, whom he has described as "trite and shallow". Perry responded by quoting 'Jonathan Jones' on a pot in his 2017 exhibition.
On Rolf Harris Following
Rolf Harris's criminal conviction in 2014, Jones was highly critical of his abilities as an artist, saying, "In the case of Harris, I would be happy to see all his art destroyed, but I already felt that way back in 2005. Even as a child, I found his art on television soporific. He was never a good artist and it's too late for collectors of his work to say they feel duped now – they were suckers to fall for such worthless cultural detritus in the first place." He added, "My blood is starting to boil all over again as I think about that glimpse into an era of lies. Seriously, what cultural malaise was this?"
On Tracey Emin In 2014, Jones described "the middlebrow" as "inherently corrupt", continuing, "What goes on in
Tracey Emin's bed is far more honest, far more decent, than what has gone on in the name of bland entertainment and mild art [...] Chocolate box art is a lie." In December 2014, prompted by the high price allegedly paid for a print by the photographer
Peter Lik, Jones stated "Photography is not an art", and went on to say that, "this hollow and overblown creation exposes the illusion that lures us all, when we're having a good day with a good camera – the fantasy that taking a picture is the same thing as making a work of art." ==Publications==