Julian Jamaal Jones is an African American interdisciplinary artist and fashion photographer born and raised in Indianapolis, IN. Jones’ merges a range of mediums to express his perspectives around Black identity. His works bridge drawing, sculpture, and textile to memorialize black culture. In addition, he communicates through the historical language of African American quilting by implementing abstract forms and vibrant colors in his works to bypass the viewer’s critical faculties and open a conversation around his Black experience. In 2022, he was awarded the Emerging Artist Fellowship, supported by the Knight Foundation.
“MARKINGS,” Julian J. Jones’ solo exhibition, is presented at PLAYGROUND DETROIT on September 9, in collaboration with Detroit Month of Design. The exhibition features quilted works derived from the artist’s abstract gestural drawings, drawing inspiration from traditional African American quilting, particularly the Gee’s Bend Quilters of Wilcox County, Alabama. Paired with the quilts are Jones’ original oil pastel drawings, offering insight into his process and exploring craft, composition, color theory, and textile design.
By combining custom textiles with solid fabrics, Jones’ works embrace and incorporate an aggressive mingling of colors, shapes, and forms as a result of pure artistic intuition. “The markings follow no physical law, no up nor down; they defy gravity to bypass the viewer’s critical facilities and open up a conversation around my Black experience,” he explains. The word “mark” carries multiple meanings: his sketches code the artist’s experiences as a Black male and the emotional impact of his experiences growing up. Dealing with loneliness and social anxiety as a young Black child, Jones did not want to be seen nor identified by his white peers.
