The Universe of Ben Jones was an exhibition like none other. Currently at NJCU’s Lemmerman Gallery, former professor Ben Jones is doing an exhibition on some of his work. Although the show does not cover even half of Jones’ work, it spans a few decades. Hearing the artist himself, Ben Jones, talk about his pieces in great detail shade a lot of light onto these stunning pieces of art. All across his pieces there are themes of self-identity, celebration, honor, social, racial, and environmental issues. It was really difficult choosing favorites from this exhibition, everything had such powerful meaning and was beautifully made.
The first artwork that caught my attention was “The King Family” from 1970, made of gouache on paper. It’s a portrait of Martin Luther King’s family, featuring his wife, and kids. It was based off a real picture taken as the King family is disembarking the plane that was carrying King’s body for the funeral. The piece itself is adorned with many ankhs in different colors, as well as stars and other various decorations. Mainly having a blue and purple tint to the overall piece. At first glance I wasn’t aware that this piece was about the King family, although the title implies it. What first drew me in were the colors and patterns since it took up most of the composition, making the faces the main focal point. Jones spoke about wanting to honor and celebrate the family of such a revolutionary person. In Susan Sontag’s “On Photography”, she describes photographs as being able to hold the world in our heads, even though a lot of us were not alive to see the time of Dr. King, we are able to feel his impact and still honor his legacy through works like that of Jones’.
“Billie Holiday #1” made in 1998 is a mixed media piece and another artwork that really struck me. Mimicking the fans given out in mostly black churches, which feature notable black figures on the back of the fans. This one that Ben Jones made, features the infamous jazz singer, Billie Holiday. The art piece is a heart-shaped fan with sharp edges coming out of it. The center of the piece showcases a blue monochromatic Holiday, with painted decorations around her face including a shell, lines, and dots. The heart surrounding the picture of her uses many colors as well. Holiday wasn’t the only one represented in this matter, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washingtion also having these hand mirror-like pieces. Again, in Ben Jones' talk he explained this artwork was another piece honoring these noteworthy individuals. His approach to honoring is definitely something I haven’t seen before. In Nicholas Mirzoeff’s, “How To See The World”, he asks the question of, “…how to see the world in a time of dynamic change and vastly expanded quantities of imagery, implying many different points of view.” With Jones’s works of self, culture, and societal issues, he is able answer this question with his point of view. We are able to see how he’s viewed the world and himself as the decades went on.
During Jones’ talk, he shared some antidotes about how he grew up during a time where segregation and crimes against black folk were most prominent. He told the crowd that while in school he asked where the black artists were when learning about art, with the teacher replying with “there are no great ones”. Decades later, Jones became that great artist he was longing for. In Edra Soto’s “Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy”, Shaun Leonardo shares, “share the work of my colleagues and those artists of color that inspired me with both young folks that I identified with (meaning those that looked like me) and white kids. For a white student, particularly a young white student, seeing the mode of expression of an artist of color can shift as much of their worldview as it does for a student of color.” Jones sharing his story and the art work he made from it opens up the eyes of many young artists, inspiring them to not only tell their story, discover their own identity, but to also advocate for something good within this world.
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| "The King Family" 1970, Gouache on paper |
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| “Billie Holiday #1” 1998, Mixed media |
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. How to See the World: An Introduction to Images, from Self-Portraits to
Selfies, Maps to Movies, and More. Basic Books, 2016.
Sontag, Susan. “On Photography.” Susan Sontag,
www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml. Accessed 20
Mar. 2024.
Soto, Edra. “Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy.” Hispanic Executive, 1 July 2022,
hispanicexecutive.com/shaun-leonardo/.
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