ARTIST Jevan Watkins Jones has been taking a different look at plants for his latest exhibition.

The show grew out of a residency with Essex University’s School of Biological Sciences, whose research into plant behaviour and state-of-the-art equipment inspired the artist.

Jevan says: “I chose plants for a whole host of reasons.

“Plants occupy peripheral spaces in our lives. We cross paths with them unconsciously much of the time.

“Many like to garden as I do, and often my garden creeps into my studio.”

Formerly an associate artist at Firstsite, Colchester, and artist in residence at Art Exchange since 2012, Jevan went to the laboratory once a week for six weeks to witness the staff and students at work.

Perhaps the most striking piece in the show is a huge green drawing of a section of the laboratory, which focuses on a machine called an infra-red gas analyser, that lets scientists find out which plants are more efficient at using CO2 gasses without losing water.

“It was an incredibly striking piece of machinery, which I didn’t expect to find there and was intrigued when I did,” he said.

As well as the plants and the machinery in the laboratory, Jevan was also inspired by some of the scientific ideas and principles the team work with every day.

He says: “While there, I learnt about green light or the colour green as we perceive it.

“Chlorophyll absorbs light in the red and blue wavelengths and does not absorb green light, but reflects it, hence why plants appear green.

“In our conversations about green I was told that ‘plants have no use for green’, which sounded so beguiling and poetic, I have named the big drawing this.”

Jevan Watkins Jones: Occupied With Plants Art Exchange, Square 5, Essex University. Until July 19. Monday to Fridays, 11am to 5pm, Saturdays noon to 4pm. 01206 873184. www.artexchange.org.uk