Rachel Jones Black Abstractionists: From Then 'til Now

Rachel Jones's paintings are on view at the Green Family Art Foundation, as part of the exhibition Black Abstractionists: From Then 'til Now, curated by Dexter Wimberly.

Black Abstractionists: From Then 'til Now brings together a multigenerational group of 38 pioneering, mid-career, and emerging Black artists. The history of Black artists working in abstraction is inseparable from the history of modern and contemporary art. While the older artists presented in this exhibition were often marginalized by the art world power structure of museums, galleries, and collectors for most of the 20th-century, their contributions, in the form of subject matter, innovation and style were inexorable. Initially inspired by the jazz of Black urban life, followed by one of the most radical periods in 20th-century American politics, the Black Power era, Black artists were making abstract art that was powerful, relevant, and salient. The artists that followed created abstract art inspired by the embers of those flames, with a more social conscious and Black community flavor. The current generation has taken these embers and transformed them into a more expanded heat, one that is more personal and revealing.