Wayson R. Jones

Wayson R. Jones
Nationality	American
Occupation	Artist
Known for	Abstract painting
Website	www.waysonjones.com

Wayson R. Jones is an American artist predominantly known for his textured abstract paintings. He resides in Mount Rainier, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. He is a 2017 grant-award winner from the Prince Georges County Arts and Humanities Council. Jones is a 1980 graduate from the University of Maryland.

Exhibitions

Solo shows

• 2013 Recent Paintings, Bloombars, Washington, D.C.
• 2014 Black President and Other, BlackRock Center for the Arts, Germantown, Maryland
• 2014 Moons in Mountains,Joe’s Movement Emporium, Mount Rainier, Maryland
• 2015 Jewels Stone Tower Gallery, Glen Echo, Maryland
• 2015 Visages/Vignettes, Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, Maryland
• 2016 In Black and White Arts, Harmony Hall, Fort Washington, Maryland
• 2016 Throw Your Hands Up, Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Arlington, Virginia
• 2017 Memory, Mostly Self, NVCC Fischer Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia

Selected Group Shows

• 2010 Centralism, Gallery 25, Fresno, CA
• 2010 Fall Members Show, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, D.C.
• 2010 Sculpture Invitational, Gallery 10, Washington, D.C.
• 2011 Black Abstraction, Arts, Harmony Hall, Fort Washington, Maryland
• 2011 Sacred Reflections, David Driskell Center, College Park, Maryland
• 2012 In the Mix, Children’s Hospital, Washington, D.C.
• 2012 Power of Color, Gallery West, Alexandria, Virginia
• 2012 Work on Paper, Jeffrey Leder Gallery, New York, New York
• 2013 Alchemical Vessels, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, D.C.
• 2013 Emulsion, Gallery O on H, Washington, D.C.
• 2013 Summertime, 39th Street Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• 2013 We the Artists, Art Matters, Mount Rainier, Maryland
• 2014 Alchemical Vessels ,Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, DC
• 2014 Direct Current, Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, Maryland
• 2014 Mid-Atlantic New Painting, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia
• 2015 Alchemical Vessels, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, Washington, D.C.
• 2015 Emulsion, Gallery O on H, Washington, D.C.
• 2015 Looking Back/Looking Forward, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, Maryland
• 2016 Home Again, Montpelier Arts Center, Laurel, Maryland
• 2016 Portrait-Portrayal-Portal, 39th Street Gallery, Brentwood, Maryland
• 2016 Sip and Paint: Van Gogh’s DCAC, Washington, D.C.
• 2016 To Be Black in White America, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, Maryland
• 2017 Creative Corridor, PGCC Marlboro Gallery, Landover, Maryland
• 2017 Emulsion, Edison Place Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• 2017 Histories and Memories, Indiana University East, Richmond, Indiana
• 2017 Methods, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Brentwood, Maryland
• 2017 Predicated, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Reviews

In a 2017 review, The Washington Post art critic noted that the "most minimalist of the troupe is Wayson R. Jones, whose mostly black pieces emphasize texture over color. Mixing feathers with pigment and powdered graphite, the artist makes dark voids varied by their thickly thatched surfaces. Like the other "Methods" actors, Jones makes art that's raw and unexpected."

In 2016, The Baltimore Sun wrote that "Wayson R. Jones' "Black President" (2012), an abstract portrait on canvas incorporating powdered graphite, acrylic medium and gesso that seems to bristle with conflict, internal and external." Also in 2016, in a group show review, The Washington Post highlighted the fact that "One of the starkest and most striking contributions is Wayson R. Jones’s near-abstract “Giant Angry Stars,” rendered in grainy black-and-white."

In 2019, Jones started working in color again, and The Washington Post art critic, in reviewing an exhibition at the District of Columbia Arts Center observed that Jones was "a painter who has just moved from black-and-white to sensuous color."