<I>Fractured Extension</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2021
name: label: Created by
content: Jennie C. Jones, American, born 1968
notes: label: Caption
content: There are social and political ramifications to rejecting ‘subject’ and embracing ‘object’—as an African American woman, much more is at stake. Minimalism becomes a radical gesture empowering a refusal to sell my narrative or bodies.
label: Caption
content: “My practice is both a comment on and a continuum of the conceptual ideology of ‘jazz,’ honoring the deep radical legacy of its experimentation, of hybrid modernist forms, wit and riff. I attempt a merger of art history and Black history within the realm of the abstract languages they constructed—at its core my practice is a search for neo-modernism.” – Jennie C. Jones
label: Caption
content: In Fractured Extension, Jennie C. Jones combines traditional media (acrylic on canvas) with noise-absorbing acoustic panels, referred to by the artist as “active surfaces” that dampen and absorb sound. She views these diptychs and triptychs as analogous to chords in music. Many of her sound installations incorporate music by African American composers and performers, as well as sculptures assembled from discarded recording equipment.
label: Description
content: A diptych by Jennie C. Jones comprised of two identically sized large, square canvases overlayed with acrylic paint and acoustic paneling covered with gray architectural felt. The diptych is stacked in a vertical orientation. Each panel of the diptych is divided in half with the left sides covered in the gray felt and paneling, and the right sides plain white acrylic with a strip of grey at the edges. There is a thin, white line of paint that cuts across the grey felt fields of both panels. When stacked, the line extends diagonally from near the top right corner to near the bottom left corner of the grey panels. Jones added division between the diptychs by painting the edge of each bright red, which face and reflect each other when stacked. Each canvas is signed and dated by the artist on the verso: [Jennie C. Jones / 2023].
place: label: Place made
content: New York, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Music
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2024.37.2ab
objectType: label: Type
content: diptychs
label: Type
content: paintings
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Jennie C. Jones
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic, acoustic panels, and architectural felt on canvas
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (each panel): 48 1/16 × 48 1/16 × 3 1/4 in. (122 × 122 × 8.3 cm)