Jon Key

April 2023

Steve Turner presents Jon Key, whose paintings feature his own likeness as a contorted black man in different poses against green, black, violet, and red backgrounds. A combination of tight framing emulates stifling freedom in contrast to Key’s choice of colors rendering a flamboyant and provocative figure. Key limits his palette to these four colors to acknowledge his Southern roots, his Blackness, his Queerness, and his family. In other recent works, he has introduced other members of his family, including his twin brother, parents, and grandparents.