Phillip March Jones
​Workbooks
November 15 – December 17, 2018
CEI ArtWorks Gallery
4o8 SW Monroe Street
Corvallis, Oregon 97333

For nearly fifteen years, Phillip March Jones has worked daily on a series of drawings, paintings, writings, and collages within the pages of a succession of small workbooks that he carries with him. Most pages start with bits of information: phone numbers, addresses, and to-do lists, but quickly develop into meandering compositions that build, with color and form, on the mundane visual information of life’s quotidien realities. Two zeros in a phone number may become a figure’s eyes; the crossed-out items of a list may become stripes on a man’s shirt; private information, bank details, and phone numbers are generally redacted, and the resulting lines are built into the new drawing’s structure.

Perhaps most intriguing is Jones’ steadfast commitment to the medium and daily practice. Almost all the books are the same size: 5.5 x 3.5 inches—perfect for a jacket or jean pocket, and he is hardly ever without one. This exhibition, simply titled: Workbooks, will feature 32 of Jones’ workbooks dating from 2003 – present.

​About the artist:
Phillip March Jones (b. 1981, Shreveport, LA) is an artist, writer, and curator based in New York City. In 2009, Jones founded Institute 193, a non-profit contemporary art space and publisher in Lexington, Kentucky. Jones later served as the inaugural director of Atlanta’s Souls Grown Deep Foundation and director of both the Galerie Christian Berst (New York / Paris) and the Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York). He currently oversees Institute 193 (1B), a collaborative project space, in New York’s East Village. In 2019, Jones will curate the Atlanta Biennial (Atlanta Contemporary) and serve as consulting curator on Way Out There: The Art of Southern Backroads at the High Museum of Art. Jones’ photographs and writings have been published by the Jargon Society, Vanderbilt University Press, Dust-to-Digital, and Poem 88, among others.
 
Information:
Bruce@ceiworks.org (541) 207-3505
https://outpost1000.weebly.com/workbooks--phillip-march-jones.html
​Corvallis Gazette-Times
​The Corvallis Advocate