Counterpoint
Jennie C. Jones is a visual artist whose practice resides at the intersection of art history, music history, and black history.
Artist BioCounterpoint is an intimate foray investigating African-American modes of formalism at mid-century, with an emphasis on the contributions of composer/pianist John Lewis, a founding member of the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ). Inspired by an unrecorded concert of the Modern Jazz Quartet at the historic Blackhawk Jazz Club in San Francisco, the project re-frames the notion of West Coast Cool, linking its beginning to this single early performance. Counterpoint adopts the process of a music concert or “gig” by following a production path from promotional poster to performance to recorded product/static edition. Functioning not only as an homage to Lewis and MJQ, Counterpoint is a formalist exhibition comprised of prints and other works on paper, as well as sculptural objects ranging from re-crafted instrument parts to vintage LP storage racks. Counterpoint also includes a collaboration with cellist Paul Rucker, who will perform interpretations from a rare book of scores written by John Lewis.
From the Journal
Read about Jennie C. Jones Creative Capital Project, a site-specific installation spanning painting, sound and sculpture. Higher Resonance addresses the central themes of Jones’ artistic practice, creating a multisensory experience interweaving the narratives of black history and art history.
Jennie C. Jones
Brooklyn, NY
Jennie C. Jones is a visual artist whose practice resides at the intersection of art history, music history, and black history—layering the formal language of modern art over the conceptual and technical strategies of avant-garde jazz. Over the past decade, Jones has participated in numerous prestigious artist residency and fellowship programs including the Center for Book Arts, Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Residency at the World Trade Center and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. In 2008 she was a fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center as well as a Visiting Artist at The American Academy in Rome. Jones’s awards include a Pollock-Krasner Grant, a New York Community Trust Grant, the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Award and the William H. Johnson Prize. Her recent exhibitions include Electric, a solo exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York; State of the Art: New York at Urbis in Manchester, UK; Red, Bird, Blue, a solo installation at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; and 30 Seconds Off An Inch at the Studio Museum in New York. A native of Cincinnati, Jones received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.