Born 1968
Calvin Jones is a Georgia native who combined his love of lakes, streams and natural settings with art to become a highly successful landscape painter in Atlanta during the 1990’s and 2000’s. In need of change and new inspiration, he moved to New York in 2008. Returning to Atlanta two years later, he explored new subjects and now focuses on creating enigmatic portraits of imaginary women in a semi-abstract, luminous style. His paintings are also suffused with rich color and their surfaces sensitively and elegantly embellished using special techniques, many of which he learned working in the film industry.
Artist Statement
My greatest joy in life is working in my studio where despite being removed from daily life, I feel a wholeness and connectedness to the world. This is because I love the mechanics of oil painting in which every day brings new challenges and discoveries. However, after all of the planning and preparation that go into the inception of a painting, it inevitably falls apart. Then it begins again, moving from chaos to order. Repeating this process creates a certain vibration on the canvas. As a painter, one of my principal tasks is to create tension between the sensory quality of the paint and construction of the from. This is a struggle and it is mostly about finding clarity.
Many years ago, while in Los Angeles, I saw a Rembrandt show. Walking into a room full of his large portraits, I was overwhelmed by the drama, color and ceremony of each piece. My response to them was not necessarily about the person depicted but the psychological and physiological subject and how it affected the viewer. For the viewer to make a painting one’s own, he or she must accept the ambiguity, confusion and search for clarity that were the conditions of its arrival into the world.
Education
BFA, Georgia Southern University, 1994
Select Exhibitions
1995 The Aware House, Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
1996 Crescent Room, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1997 Art Papers: Lowe Gallery, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1997 Atlanta Urban Artists, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1998 B COMPLEX, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1998 Atlanta Urban Artists, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1998 Art Papers: City Hall East, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1999 Lansdell Galleries, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1999 Atlanta Urban Artists, Group Show, Atlanta, GA
1999 B COMPLEX; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2000 Lansdell Galleries; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2000 City Hall East; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2000 Artist United; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2001 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2006 Mason Murer; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2007 Lansdell Galleries; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2001 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2001 MOCA GA; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2001 B COMPLEX; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2002 Stripe Door Gallery; Group Show, Nashville, TN
2002 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2003 MOCA GA; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2003 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2004 Mary Praytor Gallery, Group Show, Greenville, SC
2004 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2005 Mary Praytor Gallery; Solo Show, Greenville, SC
2005 Lansdell Galleries; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2005 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2006 Mason Murer; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2007 Lansdell Galleries; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2007 Mary Praytor Gallery; Solo Show Greenville, GA
2007 Lansdell Galleries; Solo Show, Atlanta, GA
2008 Lansdell Galleries; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2009 Lansdell Galleries; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2009 Elder Art;Group Show, Charlotte, NC
2010 Mason Murer Fine Art; Group Show, Atlanta, GA
2011 Calvin Jones & Whitney Wood Bailey, Tew Galleries, Atlanta, GA
2014 Expressions of Landscape, TEW Galleries, Atlanta GA
2015 The Landscape Show, TEW Galleries, Atlanta, GA
2015 Calvin worked full time as a set painter on The Walking Dead
2017 TEW Galleries Salon Show, Atlanta, GA
2019 Solo Show: “Us, Them and an Island of Truths”, TEW Galleries
Download Complete CV (PDF)