Man
Artist
Bradley Jones
(American, 1944-1989)
Date1964
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions40 × 44 in. (101.6 × 111.8 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Object numberUAC3989
DescriptionYoung Cass Corridor artist Bradley Jones’ anti-establishment sentiments are on full display in this mordant painting from 1964. Its title, Man, could refer to the button-down guy in the center of the image, with his screwed-on hat, resigned posture, and vacant expression, a white collar type waiting for a bus to take him to another day at the office; or maybe it refers to “The Man,” the one who’s “keeping me down”; or maybe it’s a jab at “mankind” itself — humans reduced to cogs in a corporate machine. The anthropomorphic canine on the left, with his tongue lolling in his mouth, looks more enthusiastic about the situation, servile creature that he is. In any case, they’re both tethered by the same orange leash, held by some unseen master just out of frame. A splash of white paint on the man’s jacket suggests that even the birds are dumping on him. But slashing brushstrokes rise like steam from his head; is a spark of rebellion beginning to glow behind those shades? Or will he set his jaw and fume through another eight-hour workday? Human figures — and human stories — were an important element of Jones’ work throughout his life. His influences ranged from pulpy Buck Rogers comic strips to Francis Bacon and Rembrandt, and his work has been compared to that of caricaturist George Grosz for its often satirical bent. Gazing out a window at a group of folks at a bus stop, Jones once told a Metro Times interviewer, “I could spend hours sketching from this window. There are some fabulous characters out there.”Text by Sean Bieri
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Bradley Jones was only 45 when he took his own life in 1989, but in the short time he was here he made a big impact on the Detroit art scene, and a lasting impression on many of its citizens. Jones earned his BFA (1968) and his MFA (1970) from Wayne State University. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Willis Gallery, and a founding member of JAPS, a Dada-inspired performance and protest group dedicated to opposing the Vietnam war. In 1971, Jones co-founded the Michigan Gallery, serving on its board for a decade and curating a number of exhibits there. With Carl Kamulski, he developed the fine arts program at Wayne County Community College, where he taught painting from 1970 until his death. In 2001, the Center Galleries mounted a retrospective, Blue: The Life and Work of Bradley Jones, which the Metro Times’ George Tysh called “a shattering instance of personal vision.” Remembering the painter in 1998, poet Jim Gustafson told the Detroit News that Jones “saw everything, was interested in everything. He visited the world like a teenager in a rich lady’s closet.”
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