Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Philip Jones. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Philip, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
In his Discourses on Art, 1769, Sir Joshua Reynolds advises young students of art (or any discipline) to study the history of the field, or risk mistaking their beginner’s trifling for discovery of a new world. Only by knowing what has preceded can one begin to approach originality.
Visually and conceptually, Romare Bearden’s collage paintings of the 1960s-1970s are liberating to me. His vision is inspirational and challenging in its disruption of perspective, time, and point-of-view, yet logical and coherent. I don’t need to worry about being too bold, Bearden has already ventured well beyond my wild dreams, and points the way.
At midnight on a rainy summer night in 1972, after driving several hundred miles, I was sitting in a Chinese diner in lower Manhattan. I was waiting for rushes to be finished in the custom film lab next door. As soon as I got the print I was driving through the night to Memphis for a meeting the next day with a possible funder. I cracked open the fortune cookie: “Every path hath a puddle”.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Art-making is making magic. Art-making is manifesting a “thing” in the world from the ether of imagination.
My process is essentially alchemical. Through the rigorous application of a discipline and processes the work reveals the sublime qualities and nature concealed in the mundane objects and moments of life and living.
I am co-founder and Creative Director of Alchemy Media Publishing Co.. In this capacity I design and format print manuscripts for publication. I also design and produce image and sound components of media projects.
Time Machine Bronzeville is the latest media launch by Alchemy Media Publishing Co. This desktop computer app transports the Visitor to Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, between the World Wars. (see photos)
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
curiosity / perseverance / sustained focus
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
The Painter’s Mind, Romare Bearden, Carl Holty
other thoughts:
How what is said is said. (Romare Bearden)
The object of art is not to recreate reality, but to create a reality of equal intensity. (Paulo Giacometti)
A poem should not mean,
But be. (Archibald MacLeish)
All art aspires to the condition of music. (William Pater)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.philipmalloryjones.com
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
photo credit for headshot: Elizabeth K. Jackson, Ph.D.
all others: Philip Mallory Jones
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
