oil on canvas; 24×36”

“I graduated from UC’s DAAP, was educated in Western art and culture, and traveled the world. Tom was a self-taught artist, his art derived from a spiritual place rather than books, he integrated African art with Western art, and had a broad perspective on the world without globe-trotting. None of that mattered when Tom and I sat down in old, worn out, mismatched arm chairs to solve world problems. We saw the world so much alike that we didn’t have arguments, only debates. We had the same dreams and tried to solve racism in Cincinnati by co-founding the Neo-Ancestralist Art Movement. Tom was selfless, always ready to share his wealth of knowledge, wanting nothing from me other than to share visions of what the world could be. He was a mentor and a father figure and taught me more about life than about art. Tom helped me rediscover my roots.”

ARTIST BIO: Jimi Jones is a life long Cincinnati artist, a graduate of UC DAAP, and a founding member of the Neo-Ancestralist Art Group. His works have been featured at: the Contemporary Art Center, Dayton Art Institute, Weston Art Center, University of Cincinnati, Springfield Museum of Art, Berringer-Crawford Museum, Xavier University, New York art galleries, and numerous SOS shows.