“it’s about time”

You guys… ART FOR YOUR EAR is back! Yep, here we are at the beginning of Season No.5, and I could not be more thrilled to be kicking things off with this talented, insightful, soft-spoken artist. American artist Ronald Jackson is my very first guest back… after a much longer than planned break. I’m sure you’ll recognize his work as I’ve written about him before, but hearing his self-taught story {he had a 20 year career in the military before becoming a painter!?} makes me admire him more than I already did. Ready? You can listen right up there under “Some Wore the Skin of Invisible Men”, or subscribe right here.

First, a few of his most recent paintings, along with a shot of Ronald in the studio so you can, A. see the man behind the voice, and B. understand the scale of these masked beauties:

Gasp! So. Good.

I thought I’d include his work from 2018 as well. This is what he was doing when I first reached out to him about being on the podcast:

Yep, those are all stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous, too. And yes, that’s NOLA based artist Ashley Longshore with two pieces of Ronald’s that she now owns. LOVE!

Now, what did his work look like before he started adding masks to his subjects? I’m so glad you asked:

Again, so beautiful, but isn’t it so interesting to see the evolution? Speaking of which, here are the narrative paintings he was working on before that big show that required a lot of BIG work:

So different, yet you can absolutely see his hand in these paintings too. I wonder if he’ll head back in this direction at some point? We’ll have to keep an eye on that!

And finally, this is his painting that was recently acquired by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas:

“In a Day, She Became the Master of Her House”. Beautiful, on so many levels.

But wait! Before you go … I found this photo on Ronald’s Instagram feed and just had to include it… he’s 1 of 11 children! Can you spot him? Hint: he’s the baby of the family:

Awww, so cute! Thanks so much to Ronald for taking the time to share his stories with me, and thank YOU for coming back for season no.5 … there will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend.

Source: thejealouscurator