King Without a Crown Mixed media on canvas 48 x 60  inches
[Photographer of Painting Dwana Boone]

Author Statement and Bio:

Henry L. Jones is a Black artist, poet, playwright, performance artist and activist. He’s known to create provocative abstract art and exhibits frequently. His work has hung in many galleries, museums and public spaces in the United States and abroad. Jones paints with his hands instead of brushes to form patterns and figures. He calls his technique Gibbing, which is a spiritual and tactile technique which helps keep him connected with creating artwork. The painting, King without a Crown, is a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and the Civil Rights Movement. Jones painted this piece for his solo exhibition, Freedom Echoes: Three Views of Hope and Memories at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The King piece depicts the civil rights leader connecting the African Diaspora past with the movement while emitting his vision and voice of freedom into the future.  The artist delves into historical events, social issues, cultural traditions and personal experiences for inspiration. His explorations resulted in winning honors, awards and recognitions. His art is in public and private collections.  Jones is a (2019-2020) Art Wire Fellow of The Porch Writers Collective and OZ Arts Nashville Center. Also, he’s serving as an artist-in-residence in a program. Other projects include: new exhibitions, several murals, a children’s book, a play and a poetry book. Publications such as Rockvale Journal, Visions of My People,Chicago Quarterly Review, IBEJI Journal, Blacks in Asia Magazine, Chicago Reader, Run into Blackness: Feeling My Poetic Gumbo (cover), Living in the Winner’s Circle (cover), Ghetto of Eden (cover) and others featured his art. A Detroit native, Jones is a Fisk University alumnus who lives in Nashville, Tennessee and transplanted from Chicago, Illinois.