Benjamin Jones
Whitespace Gallery is pleased to present Benjamin Jones in his second solo show, Welcome to the Theater. Through drawing, mixed media, and new sculptures, Jones is center stage as the emcee who transports us to his immersive world – mixing whimsey with fear, demons with compassion, joy with despair. This body of work reflects the pain, isolation, loneliness, and human vulnerability, experienced during the pandemic and the subsequent hopelessness that followed as the world dissolved into political and social upheaval.
Drawing heavily from news media, Jones’ work continues to reflect on current events, particularly politicians and his disdain for those in leadership roles. He juxtaposes systems against individual lived experiences in order to highlight existential struggle. Within these observations lies the truth of our common humanity and the continuous effort required to recognize and realize that the personal can and will triumph if we dig deep to find goodness, love, and hope.
Images by Mike Jensen
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Benjamin Jones (b. Atlanta, 1954) received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of West Georgia. Throughout his career, Jones has received several awards and recognitions. In 1994, he was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Southern Arts Federation. In 2003, he was granted an award from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation in New York, which made him the only artist in Georgia since 1979 to receive such honor. In 2006, Jones made his international debut at Art London and was a featured artist at London’s John Martin Gallery in 2007 exhibition called Drawing a Diversion. His work has been collected by several museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the J.B. Speed Museum in Louisville, the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. Jones currently lives and works on Tybee Island, GA.