Critical Blog Post 6_Paul R Jones Gallery

As I mentioned in previous blogs, I am not a huge fan of art galleries. I typically find them dull compared to the live action of plays or dance recitals. Since the Willie Cole exhibit pleasantly surprised me at the beginning of the semester however; I decided to try going to the Paul R. Jones Gallery in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The gallery is named after Paul Raymond Jones, an African American art collector who has a rather interesting back story. He wanted to African American art to gain more recognition. To achieve this goal he began collecting pieces he liked from African American artists he met, and hosted receptions at his house to encourage colleagues to buy artwork and put pressure on museums and galleries to display African American artwork. His collection eventually amassed to around 2,000 pieces, most of which (around 1700 works) he generously donated to the University of Alabama. He only asked that the university share and circulate the artwork. Throughout his life, Paul R. Jones also worked tirelessly to improve interracial relationships. He was one of the most respected collectors in the African American community.

When I visited the Paul R. Jones Gallery, I saw artwork by the artist Sheila Pree Bright, a professional photographer from Atlanta. Her work explores suburban life within the African American community by exploring the media’s depiction of the African American community versus the more realistic and common ideology of the African American lifestyle. Her work explores stereotypes that exist, aiming to subvert them, rather than accept them.

I saw works from Bright’s Dolls and Girls Series and her Preaching Soul Series. The Preaching Soul Series featured photographs Bright took of African American preachers on the streets of Atlanta. Bright asked the preachers if she could take photographs of them, and she stayed on the streets with them, taking pictures of what she saw. She often became friends with the people she photographed. All of her photographs were in black and white.

I was actually more interested in the photographs that were part of the Dolls and Girls Series. These were some of the most interesting photos I have ever seen. The pictures were half plastic doll, half real girl, and showed a sharp contrast between the image girls try to live up to versus the way real girls look. The pictures moved me because there are so many little girls who strive to look like “Barbie” and their self esteems are destroyed when they cannot attain that impossible image because they don’t understand that Barbie isn’t real. These photographs clearly showed just how fake the image girls try to achieve is- like plastic.

One of the pictures I adored the most was not part of any collection, and was titled “Reflections of an Empty Room.” The title of the photograph describes it perfectly. It was a picture of the reflection of an empty chair with a desk and lamp next to it in a mirror. The photograph conveyed sadness, as if someone used to sit in the chair, but they are now gone, so it is empty. The photograph, while sad, was oddly soothing, because I got the feeling that the person who used to sit in that chair lived a full life.

I am glad that I went to this art gallery. I strongly recommend that everyone try and visit it if they haven’t already. Help Paul R. Jones’s dream of exposing African American art and bridging gaps between races live on.