Barry Jones, Lesson 4 (the Gospels)

featured in Between a Love and a Hard Place, a video art exhibition presented by Vinegar at the Media Window in downtown Birmingham, Alabama.

Lesson 4 (the Gospels) is part of a series of videos, installations, and public projections I have worked on for the last ten years. In these works, I use stop-motion animation and the written word to record my efforts to teach my children empathy and morals. Lesson 4 (the Gospels) is a deceptively simple piece in which I photograph the word "love" every time it is spoken by Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I used a large, heirloom bible in which every word spoken by Christ is in red. I inverted the colors and created a fast-paced animation that loops the word "love" repeatedly.

Being American, and particularly an American from the South, Christianity plays a significant role in my family's life. It is important to me to remember that in the New Testament, Jesus speaks about love more than anything else. We all need to be reminded of that, so I made this video for my children. As I tell my children, when someone uses Christianity as a justification for hatred, "Remember, they read the Gospels wrong."

Barry R. Jones is a Professor of Art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. He is the husband of Jennifer Ford, the father of Parker, Aidan, Hope, and Elliott, and an artist working in digital media. He received an MFA from the University of South Carolina and a BFA from Austin Peay State University. He has exhibited work in a lot of places, including the Asheville Art Museum, the Atlanta Contemporary, the Hunter Museum of Art, and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

 Artist Statement:

My work deals with social and political issues, most recently by exploring my role as an artist living in a particular community (Clarksville, TN) and as a father. Visually, I work with animation and the written word in large scale indoor and outdoor projections. My work records my efforts to teach my children empathy and morals (Lesson 1, 2014) and give voice to members of my community (Common Hope, 2013) and those whose voice is often ignored (Voices, 2006). I hope to live an ethical life and to meet my responsibilities to others. This goal has led to a collection of stories, poems, and texts the serve as a source to my work. I feel it is important to present my work in public non-art venues whenever possible in order to widen its audience and to situate myself and the work in a particular place. I use a simple system of portable batteries, projectors, and speakers to create ephemeral public experiences and to appropriate public space.