Jez riley French makes use of intuitive composition, field recording, improvisation and photography, and has been exploring his enjoyment of and interest in detail, simplicity and his emotional response to places and situations for over 3 decades. Alongside performances, exhibitions and installations, French lectures and runs workshops around the world and his range of specialist microphones are widely used by recordists, sound artists, musicians, sound designers and cultural organisations. He also works as a curator of live events, a record label, sound installations and an arts zine verdure engraved.
In recent years French has been working extensively on long-form recordings of surfaces, spaces and situations and developing the concept of photographic scores and "scores for listening", which have featured widely in publications and exhibitions.
Recent work includes pieces capturing the sound of the dolomites dissolving, ants consuming fallen fruit, the Tate Modern building vibrating, the infrasound of domestic spaces around the world, glaciers melting in Iceland and the tonal resonances of natural and human objects in the landscape. Recent projects and research include "design and detail of the spaces between buildings" in Japan and the "salts" project where he has captured the resonance of buildings, sounded by ensembles playing composed scores, which are then recorded, using extended techniques - using the building as a filter for the resulting works.
His work has been exhibited in shows and installations alongside that of Yoko Ono, David Bowie, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Watson, Jana Winderen, Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, Ryuchi Sakamoto, Stars of the Lid, Jeremy Deller, Sarah Lucas, Brian Eno, Signe Liden, Sally Ann McIntyre, etc.; at galleries including The Whitworth Gallery (Manchester), Tate Modern and Tate Britain, MOT Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (Japan), Artisphere (USA). During 2017 French was commission by the UK City of Culture, Hull 2017, to deliver or be involved in several key projects, including Height of the Reeds and North Atlantic Flux.
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