Interview with Imani Jones

By Paige Roberts, Social Media Manager

(Photo courtesy of Imani Jones, taken by Jay Wickersham)

We recently sat down with (virtually) visual artist Imani Jones to talk about lineage, revision, Blackness, and eroticism. See her work in our August 2020 issue here.

Paige Roberts: Tell me about yourself, beyond an artist bio or statement. What do you want people to think of when they hear or read about "Imani Jones the Artist"?

Imani Jones: I want people to know that my work is black art but more importantly, it’s human art. I want people to know that the exploration of the environment, relationships and mind is one of the most important things we need to understand with ourselves and each other to create beauty.

PR: Congratulations on your recent graduation from MECA! How did your time spent there shape you as an artist?

IJ: Thank you for the congratulations! It’s shaped me in how I’ve learned to paint today. I wouldn't have the skills, wonderful community, friendships and drive if I didn't attend MECA. Although I’ve learned how to critically think about institutional systems and its teachings, what it truly taught me was how to think for myself and to create for myself. How to have studio practice, how to talk to a white audience about my work, and mostly that painting, and drawing is necessary for my living. Creating is necessary for life.

PR: Who are some of your mentors? Who has been most influential to you and your lineage as an artist?

IJ: I believe that every person in every field needs to find as many mentors as they possibly can for any aspect of their life they may need guidance for. My mother and my father were my first mentors in life. So my morals and my honor comes from them. Todd Poteet, Alexandra Baer at Mill Street Loft now Art Effect, had not become only mentors but a part of my family. They showed me that art is a future and is my path in life. Philip Brou, Leslie Murray, Seth Rogoff, Nico Jenkins, Honour Mack, Greta Bank... There were a lot of mentors that pushed me to be who I am today. When I didn't have it they made sure they could find a way I could. My biggest inspiration is my cousin and God-mother Tekima Jones. She was the only person in my family to be super weird, eccentric, smart, coud curse you out, and be unapologetically black and also unapologetically so beautiful.

PR: Can you describe some of your creative process? Do you set aside specific times to create, is it sporadic, or both?

IJ: My process is based first in research, whatever research that may be. I feel like with an override of information we need to weed out the information that is connected to our personal experience that also connects to the whole, i.e.: society, family, etc. Not the information that is deemed the “truth” because truth changes with perspective as does information itself. I prefer to paint in the morning but if I miss a morning then I paint at night. Always have a sketchbook for yourself not for Instagram so there's no pressure, just let yourself create. Knowing that this is my vocation, I try to put in at least 5 hours every 5 days out of the week while working a job as well. But I intend to have this fully as my path.

PR: Do visual artists have a "revision process" similar to writers, musicians, or other types of artists? If so, what are some of the steps you take when revising your work?

IJ: Oh yes! There’s definitely a revision process, I don’t even think it's necessarily revising though. I think it's our idea that something is done when truly nothing is ever done because we can always choose to continue work, it's our desire for a finished product which causes something to be done. HA! I guess I’m not answering the question, but yes, painters make mistakes in paintings all the time, what grammar is to a writer so the message is clear as possible, painters do that with image.

PR: On your website, you indicate that your art "delves into the alchemical transformations of self, Blackness, womanhood, sexuality and eroticism that affect the temporal world around [you] and [your] world internally." Can you elaborate on that further?

IJ: Yes, human beings go through constant chemical and spiritual transformation, this is a natural alchemical transmutation that happens through growth and nature. In this human body, I’m a cis-Black woman with some Jamaican and Southern American roots/ancestery, that was born and raised in the upper New York state area. Exploring this rhizome of experience all these small things that are part of this life that we live is an alchemical transformation. Painting through these experiences whether with self portrait or with another being that is delving into themself. The human alchemical transformation that happens through living is what I wish to capture in painting which is an alchemy itself.

Ermia's Dream: The Streets R Dead 32X48

PR: Your website features paintings from the years 2016-2019. How do you think the current landscape of 2020 will shape the subject matter and themes of your art to come? How has it done so already?

IJ: Yes, I’ve been saving the best for last. My new work for 2020 will be posted on my website and Instagram at the end of August. My body of work for 2020 showcases this raw exploration of these transformations. With personal experience that personally deals with vulnerability, intimacy, eroticism, heartbreak, self-harm, sexuality, etc. The universal transformation that comes within womanhood while also delving into individual experience of blackness. Even the experience of wisdom tooth pain! Haha! All these different states of mind and body through experience of living creates these chemical and internal soulful changes. We live in a historical time right now where we as a species need to be aware of these changes of ourselves, grow along with our environments and planet.

PR: Is any of your work available for purchase?

IJ: None of my current work is for sale but commissions are very much open. People can email me at imanijonesstudios@gmail.com or on Instagram via direct message.

PR: Do you have any upcoming shows (virtual and otherwise)?

IJ: In September-October I’ll be having a show at the New Paltz Elting Memorial Library in New Paltz, NY with a virtual artist talk. The annoumencent dates will be posted via Instagram. In February a show will be happening with my work at Queen City 15 Gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Imani Jones is an oil painter and draftswoman of the human figure. Her work delves into the alchemical transformations of self, Blackness, womanhood, sexuality and eroticism that affect the temporal world around her and her world internally. Born in the city of Poughkeepsie, NY, she earned her BFA in Painting from Maine College of Art and Design.

malasaña.

Interview with Imani Jones