Jennie C. Jones is Rose Art Museum’s 2017 Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence

Jennie C. Jones. | Photo by Frank Rothenberg via Rose Art Museum

THE ROSE ART MUSEUM named Jennie C. Jones recipient of the 2017 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award. Jones explores the intersection of art, black history, and music, describing her work as “listening as a conceptual practice.” Her innovative practice is high-concept. The Brooklyn-based artist draws connections between complex social and cultural histories, considering the ways in which the roots of avant-garde and experimental jazz parallel ideas undergirding Minimalism and Abstraction.

The Perlmutter residency recognizes the accomplishments of an “emerging” artist and supports a residency on the campus of Brandeis University providing students with an opportunity to collaborate with an exceptional artist.

Jones is giving a talk on March 22 at the university museum. She is discussing her work and how she envisions her residency project, which connects with an exhibition currently on view at The Rose.

Known for her monochromatic wood sculptures and wall installations, Louise Nevelson’s first museum retrospective was organized in 1967 by The Rose in collaboration with the Whitney Museum of Art. Nevelson essentially curated the show herself, presenting her work on two floors in an immersive theatrical environment. Half a century later, the museum is presenting “Reflections: Louise Nevelson, 1967” (Feb. 17-June 11, 2017). The display of archival materials includes installation photographs, correspondence, and artist-drawn floor plans exhibited for the first time.

For her residency project, Jones is creating a score inspired by Nevelson’s 1967 retrospective. She is presenting the work live on April 29 during the university’s campus-wide Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts. Brandeis students and faculty musicians will interpret and perform the score.

“The Perlmutter Award allows the Rose to promote and explore the work of artists poised to have a lasting impact on their field. Jones’ residency will create a unique opportunity for creative intersections across multiple disciplines of our university community,” said Kristin Parker, interim director of The Rose.

“Jennie C. Jones – Red, Cue, Disruption,” (2016) was presented with her “Amplitude” exhibition at Sikkema Jenkins.

Last fall, Jones showed new work at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery in New York. “Jennie C. Jones: Amplitude” featured acoustic paintings that “constructed from industrial sound absorbing panels, suggest both the aural and physical dynamics of listening.”

Her mid-career survey, “Jennie C. Jones: Compilation” opened at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in December 2015. Documenting 11 years of her practice, the exhibition included acoustic paintings, works on paper, sculpture and sound works.

“For me, it really is about mediation,” Jones told the Houston Chronicle. “It’s very much about excavation, about looking at music history and putting things together that might not belong together, and working with audio collage a little bit outside of DJ culture. Almost like a hyper-mindful history nerd.” CT

BOOKSHELF
“Jennie C. Jones: Compilation” was published to coincide with her 11-year survey at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston. Jones also contributed to the recent Alma Thomas catalog that accompanies her exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem and Tang Art Museum. Along with three other contemporary artists, Jones created a new work in response to Thomas’s practice. She focused on the late artist’s “Mosaic” paintings considered the “tenacity of her language,” which is voiced in the repetition of “Alma’s Mark.”

Trailer: “Jennie C. Jones: Compilation” at CAM Houston