The Iowa Stater
Dec. 15, 1995
Artist's puzzles on display in SoHo
To solve the puzzles of art, creativity and the human experience, Brenda Jones goes to the canvas.
One of those puzzles, a series of Jones' paintings and drawings titled "Enigma," will be part of the "Verbal Voices" exhibit at the Agora Gallery in New York City's SoHo District Dec. 30 through Jan. 24. Jones' work has been exhibited throughout the country, but this is the first time at a New York gallery.
"When we saw her work, we wanted her to be part of the gallery. Her work is meticulously executed and has a very sensitive feeling for the human face and form," said Grace Gabriele, Agora Gallery director. "We think Brenda's work is going to be extremely interesting to the New York art scene."
The series is called "Enigma" because it is a puzzle, Jones said. "It is what art is all about -- creativity, continuation, bringing everything to a finish and then going back to it again and again. You are trying to resolve the puzzle, come up with the solution to the problem."
The puzzle of "Enigma" has many pieces. Women and human forms are featured with repeated images of scattered toys, dolls and skulls. While the imagery and colors of the series are dark and heavy, the work can evoke feelings of home and family.
"I hope it bothers people who see it," Jones said. "I hope they feel something, anything, whether they love it or hate it. I don't want them to walk up to it and then immediately forget about it."
Images, written or drawn, have played an important role in Jones' life. She was 7 when she first sensed the thrill of art. Her father showed her a picture of Michelangelo's sculpture "Pieta."
"I remember my reaction to this day," Jones said. "I wanted to know how he created this remarkable illusion -- this grown man with all this pain and anxiety in this strong woman's lap? How do you turn stone and make it so real? It went beyond religion for me. It was a spiritual experience."
While a college student at Drake University, Jones had the opportunity to study in Italy and see the actual sculpture. Her reaction was the same.
Jones, associate professor of art and design, has done extensive research on women artists, particularly minority women and the symbols, such as circles and stars, found in their work. These symbols played a part in creating "Enigma."
The words of writers and poets, such as Maya Angelou and Dylan Thomas, also have inspired Jones. She did a series inspired by Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," in which he urges his ill father to "rage, rage against the dying of the light." That the words of a hard-- drinking Irishman should influence an African American painter should not be a puzzle to anyone.
"He is asking his father not to die -- to rage, to fight, to struggle," Jones said. "I am a woman of color. I am an African American in a country that usually has blinders on and doesn't want to see the issues that confront it. I am struggling against walls.
"But, you can't give up. You have to fight, rage and do whatever it
takes as an artist."
- Steve Sullivan, News Service
ISU alumni are invited to meet artist Brenda Jones at the opening of the "Verbal Voices" exhibit at the Agora Gallery, Broadway and Prince St., New York City, from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4. Patty Jischke, wife of ISU President Martin Jischke, also will attend the opening.
Alumni also are reminded that ISU alumnus Dennis Ryan is co--starring opposite Carol Burnett and Philip Bosco in Moon Over Buffalo at the Martin Beck Theater on Broadway. For more information, call the Alumni Association, (515) 294--6562.
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