Jennie C. Jones’ Jones’ minimalist Acoustic Panel Paintings incorporate noise-absorbing acoustic panels into their compositions, encouraging viewers to anticipate sound even in the quietest of environments. Indeed, the artists states that the acoustic panels in the paintings are always “active.” “I always say they’re active even when there’s no sound in the room,” she explains. “They are affecting the subtlest of sounds in the space—dampening and absorbing even the human voice.”

In recent paintings in this series, Jones continues to expand her research into the sonic, illustrating aural experiences visually through innovative approaches to geometry, color, and materials. The title of Tempo Largo (Marking Dark Time) (2020) references a slow, dirge-like speed of music. Reinforcing this solemnity, the canvas’ black panel also alludes to mourning. Signaling Jones’ return to the black monochrome, this painting and its companion, Tempo Grave (Marking Dark Time) (2020), are the first the artist has created since 2014.

In a departure from these earlier pieces, however, Tempo Largo (Marking Dark Time) features painted acoustic panels. Describing how the process of allowing the paint to evenly soak into the fabric panel to create subtle texture variations “became an existential back and forth struggle … towards an impossible flawlessness,” the artist underscores the considered nature of her works’ surfaces. “Underpainting is becoming more and more critical to my process,” she explains. “The layering with the ‘memory’ or passing time of previous brush work is apparent in the soft impasto and ghostly brush strokes embedded in the monochromatic surfaces.”

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