S. R. Jones has continued to make art regularly since graduating from California State University, Sacramento with a BA in Art. He feels one has to continue to exercise artistic sensibilities or these senses and skills will atrophy, much like the physical body would. He has shown in galleries nationwide; receiving several awards.

Although he doesn’t think of himself as a photographer, he will usually begin his work shooting Polaroid 4" x 5" sheet film in a 1940’s-era Graflex camera with a Polaroid back. Occasionally, he’ll begin a work using a found photo: always on the lookout for found photos and objects, he maintains a constant studio supply of objects he’s picked up off the street.

Jones then alters the photographs by abrading them with steel wool and sandpaper; altering the imagery, color and texture. He then paints and draws on the altered photo; often adding magazine, mylar, lead, and found objects along with the oil and graphite until the works are finally completed.

The figure, especially the female form, is a continuous subject of Jones’s work. Attracted to all forms of figurative work, Jones is intrigued with how figures interact within strange settings and architectural conditions; noting that he’d like his work to evoke “a sense of mysterious narrative”.

S. R. JONES
1955 Born; Sacramento, California

EDUCATION
1978 BA: Art, California State University, Sacramento, California

ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

1997  “Paint Meets Polaroid”
The Darkroom Gallery, Sacramento, California

1993  Dean Moniz Gallery, Sacramento, California
University Union Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, California

1980  Governor’s Office, Sacramento, California

1978  Governor’s Office, Sacramento, California

TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2003  “Narrative Landscapes”
JAYJAY, Sacramento, California

2001  “New Works”
b. sakata garo, Sacramento, California

2000  “Recent Work”
The Sutter Club, Sacramento, California

1998  Two Person Exhibition
Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, California

1990  Jennifer Pauls Gallery
Sacramento, California

1981  “Suburban Installation”
White Gallery, Sacramento, California

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2002  “Back in the Box II”
Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, California
“New New”
JAYJAY, Sacramento, California
“Self”, A group show of self portraiture
Davis Art Center, Davis California
“Ninth Annual Artists’ Valentines Exhibition”
Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis

2000  “The Exquisite Corpse”
Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California
“click.plus” - Five Artists Who Manipulate the Photograph”
American River College, Sacramento, California

1999  “Visual Conversations - A Group Exhibit on the Art of Collaboration”
Big Art, Sacramento, California
“The Figure”
The Fairfield Center for Creative Arts, Fairfield, California

1998  “Self-Expression 1998 – All Media Self-Portrait Invitational”
Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, California
“Five from the City of the Sacrament”
Gallery W, Sacramento, California

1997  “Big Kid’s Toy Box - Playfulness in Contemporary Art”
Solomon Dubnick Gallery, Sacramento, California
All Things Great and Small VII”
Stremmel Gallery, Reno, Nevada
“The Phobia Show”
Phantom Galleries, North Sacramento, California

1996  “Realms of the Unreal / Alternative Landscapes”
American River College, Sacramento, California
“The White Gallery Reunion Show”
Phantom Galleries, North Sacramento, California
“The Abstract Surface/The Illusion”
Sierra College Library Gallery, Rocklin, California

1995  “Miniatures”
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California

1994  “Vantage Points - An Exhibition by 16 Contemporary California Photographers”
Arts Benicia Center, Benicia, California
“The Figure”
Dean Moniz Gallery, Sacramento, California
“Arts Benicia Small Works Juried Exhibition”
Arts Benicia Center, Benecia, California

1993  “Art on the Boulevard”
Site-specific sculpture installation, North Sacramento, California

1992  “A Tribute to the Crocker-Kingsley”
Jennifer Pauls Gallery, Sacramento, California

1991  “in Lak' esh - A Collaboration of Vision and Voice”
Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Sacramento, California
“9th Annual Photo Exhibition”
Larson Gallery, Yakima Valley Community College, Yakima, Washington

1990  “The Sacramento Show”
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, San Francisco, California
“National ’90 Small Works Exhibition”
Juried by Susan Hirschfeld, Guggenheim Museum
Schoharie County Arts Council Gallery, Cobleskill, New York

1989  “Illuminance ’89 - 4th Annual National Photography Competition”
Lubbock Fine Arts Center, Lubbock, Texas
“CSUS 40th Annual Alumni Show”
Accurate Art Gallery, Sacramento, California

1986  “Photography ’86”
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California
Jennifer Pauls Gallery, Sacramento, California

1984  “59th Annual Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition”
Crocker Art Musuem, Sacramento, California
“Six”
South of Market Gallery, San Francisco, California
“Cowtown”
Chan Elliot Gallery, Sacramento, California

1983  “58th Annual Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition”
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
1982 “Local Color From the Flatlands”
Shepard Galleries, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada

1982  “x5”
White Gallery, Sacramento, California
“Small Format”
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California

1981  “Orange County Art Association's 15th Annual Competition”
Brea Civic Center, Brea, California
“27th Annual NCA Open Exhibition”
Open Ring Gallery, Sacramento, California
“The No Wave Show”
White Gallery, Sacramento, California
“New Work”
Michael Himovitz Gallery, Carmichael, California
“Printers”
Alta Gallery, Sacramento, California

1980  “Going Down for the Third Time”
White Gallery, Sacramento, California

1979  “Almost A Full Moon”
Robert Else Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, California

1979  “Anti-Anti”
White Gallery, Sacramento, California 1979 “Kingsley-Witt Scholarship Award Exhibit”, Open Ring Gallery, Sacramento, California

AWARDS AND HONORS

1994  Award of Excellence
“Arts Benicia Small Works Juried Exhibition”
Arts Benicia Center, Benecia, California

1990  Award Winner
“National ’90 Small Works Exhibition”
Juried by Susan Hirschfeld, Guggenheim Museum
Schoharie County Arts Council Gallery, Cobleskill, New York
Rising Star Award
“One of the best and brightest visual artists as selected by the Sacramento Area fine art galleries”

1981  Honorable Mention
“27th Annual NCA Open Exhibition”
Open Ring Gallery, Sacramento, California

1978  “3rd Annual Student Purchase Show”
University Union Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, California

ARTICLES

Judith Faught, Fairfield Daily Republic, April 2, 1999

“S. R. Jones’s painted polaroids . . . combine the flatly rendered color planes of a painting with the realistic qualities of a photograph where the depth of field played a major role in the shot’s composition. The subjects . . . juxtapose symbols of innocence and mature femininity.”
- Kimi Julian, Artweek, Page 21, February 1998

“These unabashedly romantic images focus on the female nude, often in conjunction with still lifes of flowers and fruit. These lush images combine delicate, almost subliminal, renderings of the female figure with tulips, hydrangeas, grapes and mangoes. One image, “The Lady of Shalott”, which presents an Ophelia-like woman floating in a flowery expanse, is an especially stunning work.”
-Victoria Dalkey, The Sacramento Bee, Encore Page 6, January 25, 1998

“Intimate, intuitive and enigmatic, the images range from “Then and Now”, evocative meditations on memory and loss, to “Figure With Floating Rose Petals”, a radiantly lovely figure that calls up associations with the figures of Manual Neri and Nathan Olivera. It’s a fine and moving show.”
-Victoria Dalkey, The Sacramento Bee, Encore Page 8, November 21, 1993

Victoria Dalkey, The Sacramento Bee, Encore Page 10, March 2, 1986

The Sacramento Bee, Page 13, May 15, 1983

The Sacramento Bee, Page A8, September 12, 1982

The Sacramento Bee, Scene Page 3, August 23, 1981