Over the past five months, artist Jeromyah Jones has laid many layers of oil paint onto a 3-foot by 4-foot canvas. He was working to complete, “The Faith to Build Together”, a piece inspired by today’s need for community and home building.
“One of my purposes in creating this composition was to show the power that a community possesses when its builders make camaraderie a priority. I used my father Jerome W. Jones, Jr.’s studio space that he hired Richmond, Virginia-based contractor Robert McCowan [on the ladder] to construct as my reference,” says Jones.
Jones’ piece includes many figures ranging from McCowan to the former president of the Architectural Association of Kenya, Florence Nyole.
As a visual artist, Jones’ process includes layering paint onto the surface working from dark to light shades. For the builder piece, he used photographs of the builders’ faces and various natural spaces as references to depict the new scene.
He shares more about his process: “Without a detailed sketch, I begin with a general concept of what I would like to paint and throughout the journey of my brush I tie more elements into the thread of my theme. Each subject was first painted with acrylic shades of red oxide and green. Then I overlaid them with oils to reflect their true complexions until I developed a sheen.”
“The Faith to Build Together" by Jeromyah Jones
Coining his style as ‘JARIETY’, the style is a mix of pop and renaissance and is a attempt to harmonize the many art movements Jones learned about in his studies. “It’s also my mission to break the barriers between genres so they’ll become the best of buddies! JARIETY is the combination of painting people in new places, figures I’ve known with those I’ve yet to meet, structures in situations that are completely unique, and often overlooked occupations at the forefront of my visual conversations.”
These overlooked occupations include home builders and those in the industry. Jones says that the piece was initially inspired by Psalm 127:1. “Over the past few years I’ve watched some of these builders work on various projects. Their field requires pure skill and not luck, so I grew another level of respect for how they used their tools to construct,” he adds.
Jones’ art is in the collection of the Javits Center in New York City, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh; The City of Beverly Hills; the Dr. William R. Harvey Museum of Art in Alabama; the American College of Greece in Athens, Greece; Baylor University in Texas; Northwell Health; the Medical College of Wisconsin; the US Embassy in Djibouti; the US Embassy in Tunisia; and the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa.
He has exhibited at the Museum of The Bible in Washington, D.C.; the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of VA; The Gallery at Main Street Station; and the Trumpet Awards Celebration in Atlanta.
