THE UNIVERSE OF BEN JONES - Arianna Almaguer

 THE UNIVERSE OF BEN JONES

3/20/24

Ella Fitzgerald (First Lady of Song) 2002,

Billie Holiday #1, 1998

Dinah Washington (Queen of the Blues) 2000

Billie Holiday #1, 1998

Mixed media, 15x10 inches 

Sydne Tarry Collection 

Self-Portrait, 1960

Oil on canvas 

Collection of the artist

Ben Jones is a talented artist and a retired professor at NJCU, he recently held an exhibition of his works titled “The Universe of Ben Jones.” It was held in the Lemmerman Gallery in the main campus of New Jersey City University. This show was a curation of multi-media works by Mr. Jones himself and he creates these pieces that involves with politics, race, environment, culture, and global issues. I was ecstatic of seeing his works and trying to understand the meaning of each piece and each of his piece catches your attention. It grabs you in for a discussion to learn the meaning behind of a history. Before Mr. Jones started to show us every artwork, he asked a question, and the question was “what’s your country”? He went person to person, asking the same question and I was confused as to why he was going one by one asking that question and then it hit me, it was to lead into a discussion later on into the exhibition. I am very amazed that he managed to create these beautiful pieces just by his connections and experiences. 

The Universe of Ben Jones shows an array of artworks going from his 6- decade long of career, even works from a couple years ago. All his works that was in the Lemmerman Gallery amazed me and there was one that caught my attention which was a woman in like a handheld mirror and it was called Billie Holiday #1 (1998). In the mirror was a portrait of an African-American jazz singer named Billie Holiday and the mirror was shaped into a heart. Seeing how she was portrayed fascinated me because she is a powerful female figure in the black community, and it was almost like a composition for her. During her career, her creativeness in the music embraced identity, prejudice and giving a sense of community to the people in the Civil Rights Movement.

 Self-Portraits (1980) was another Ben Jones piece that caught my eyes. This oil on canvas work made me feel like at ease but almost unsettling at the same time in my opinion. This character is like posing and staring right through you making you feel frozen at the sight. But it’s a beautiful piece to keep looking at. The expression is of calm, but the colors is giving me very old deep dark times. What I’m also getting from the pose, it’s almost like royalty like how the ancient times that a queen or a king pose to be painted.

It was definitely a great opportunity of attending The Universe of Ben Jones and listening to him go into the details of his works. Even though Mr. Jones is retired, it is evident that he continues to educate young artists everywhere, could be in school or out of school, he wants young artists to not give up. Mr. Jones at 82, still has an energy of a young man and gets excited in teaching this generation.