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Angelica Elizabeth Jones







My visual language is vivid, multifaceted and tactile. Through the use of textured surfaces and various mediums, I create images that warp and change as the viewer moves around them. This sculptural aspect of my work has to do with my choice of subject - I collect tender, vulnerable and sometimes visceral moments from me and my communities’ lives and magnify them through an exaggerated lens. My work places relaxed and authentic Black figures onto objects like scrap wood, found fabric and collages to call into question the conventions of representation, beauty and the art canon. I see my works as objects & alters first, paintings second - the painted aspect of my work is only one component of the visual language present within them. The surfaces that I am painting on, due to their status as “found objects,” carry with them deep histories, experiences and energies. 
As a multidisciplinary artist, mediums are a large component of how I communicate. The haze of chalk pastels, the vibrancy of acrylic, the grit of oil pastel - these all come together within my work to aid in creating complex stories. There is a space between these warm snapshots and the barbed surfaces they are placed on. I’m deeply passionate about depicting this contrast. These contradictions speak to the experiences of nuanced interpersonal dynamics, marginalization, poverty and addiction. I wrestle with the complexities  often through seeking connection with people and discovering other perspectives. I highlight this in my body of work by incorporating images of nightlife, domestic scenes, intimate portraiture, and family photos - this content is used in conjunction with neon glazes and textured mediums to highlight the way nostalgia, escapism, and trauma can distort experiences/memory. The real-life moments I’m depicting are often met with dream-like elements incorporated - surreal imagery inspired by drag performers, Afro-Futurism, and my own Southern Baptist upbringing permeate my collection. This divergence from reality is meant to act as a consistent reminder to myself and viewers to envision a world beyond these struggles.


About

 Angelica Jones is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Baltimore, Maryland. Her works often utilize the capabilities of various mediums to create images of Black figures. Growing up in High Point, North Carolina, Angelica was surrounded by Black History - She was raised near the birth of the Sit-In Movement and was brought up enveloped by a tight-knit community of Black women. As a painter primarily working in portraiture, she infuses the “mundane” experiences of the people around her with the dream-like qualities. Angelica’s work serves as an open archive that documents experiences of her community and personal battles with poverty, mental health and marginalization. Connection and community drive her practice and as my subjects are often queer black people who I’ve found camaraderie in throughout the years.  as she places black figures in works that honor their hurt, power, and personhood. This desire has traveled with her to Baltimore, and her art continues to act as a space to find ways to navigate our current realities - that has meant exploring escapism, glamor, connection and most recently, grief. Her  work has been exhibited in various group shows in Baltimore, D.C and North Carolina. 
CV

Ebb & Flow (2024)

Dreams of Home (2024)

Ways of Being after this Ryan (2023)

It Feels Right To Me: An Exploration of the Erotic Curated by Mina Safaraz & Madi Diaz (2024)

Breakout: G2G Again (2023)

Fresh Paint: Junior Painting Exhibition (2023)

Maryland Institute College of Art Undergraduate Juried Exhibition (2023)

Summer Arts for Learning Teacher (2023 & 2024)

Face Painter (2023-current)

Maryland Institute College of Art Office of Accessibility and Disability Services Peer Advisor (2023-current)

Maryland Institute College of Art Undergraduate Juried Exhibition (2022)