Color, Ideas, Impact
The Art of De’Joneiro Jones

Oct. 1-31, 2026
Reception: 2:30-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18

Artist Statement

De’Joneiro Jones art production is based in abstract paintings that explore intersections of socio-economic, creative, and spiritual forces and experiences as a black man – as a human being. His works feature the use of found objects in order to add a visceral texture that hints at shared cognition between his works and the viewer. Oftentimes the found objects are forms of currency, and as such, they serve multiple purposes: as physical works of interesting creative design, as reminders of the insinuating and ubiquitous ways in which currency informs modernity, and as a trope that includes ideas pertaining to the creation of history, ideology, politics, and opportunity.

His abstract paintings are vibrant colorful works that veer towards the chaotic, and emphasize mystery of the unknown surrounding their subjects. This emphasis on the unknown speaks to what is presumed and to processes and hidden ways of control and identification that all presumption entails. His uses of fragmentary and purposefully destructed slips of paper include fortunes from a Chinese restaurant, news articles, black male images, and flyers for music concerts. All of which serve to make perceptible the everyday known, and also speak explicitly to the production and lure of the unknown.

All of this is but to state the obvious: as a black man, as a human being De’Joneiro Jones signification lies in and outside of frames of force and experience. His work is still to be centered, aware of ordering in chaos.

About The Gallery

The Gallery at University City Public Library features monthly exhibitions of local and international artists, highlighting the scope of diversity through works of art. For more information about The Gallery, please email thegallery@ucitylibrary.org.