"Clarksdale Juke" John Obafemi Jones 2015 Acrylic & Oil sticks on canvas "16 x 20" Sold
My parents had a deep love for music, Mom loved to sing, and both were members of gospel groups in their hometown of Ellaville, Ga.Ellaville is within the Lower Chattahoochee River Valley. The region developed a unique blues sound and has one of the richest blues music in America. The blues provide vital responses to spectacle lynching and African American life's violent realities in the Jim Crow South. Sadly, the blues legacy of the Lower Chattahoochee Valley is largely unnoticed. My great grandfather Wash Edge was a bluesman, as was his son Nute. Nute was a noted master guitarist, so much so that people from far and near sought him out for lessons. As a youth, some of my fondest memories were those summer evenings in Ellaville sitting on the porch listening to my aunts and uncles play guitar and sing rhythm and blues.
About the author: John Obafemi Jones is an American artist residing in the U.S. Virgin Islands. An expressionistic figurative painter, his paintings are rooted in his need for self-discovery and expression. He frequently uses jazz themes and blues icons because he feels these art forms have historically confronted some of society’s most serious questions. For examples of mixed media, painting visit http://www.johnobafemijones.com