This exhibition is a celebration of one of Atlanta’s elder statesman of the arts community. Ranging in mediums from oil and acrylic painting to cartoons and book illustrations,“60 years of Art, a Diamond Jubilee Celebration is a memorable experience into the soul of an artist who ‘s been working steadily since the late 1940’s and continues to create artworks that capture the heart and soul of the Americana experience. Malone has captured the gestural beauty and motion of everyday life. Like Langston Hughes ”Just be Simple” stories and his poems of Harlem life over flowing with the rhythms of blues and jazz, Malone has captured the multi-generational groove of Atlanta’s history. His big hip church ladies and hip cat street vendors sharing space and grace in vibrant moments both sacred and secular are full of emotion. His paintings and drawings of everyday family life are done with a tenderness that speaks to his love of the small moments of life that hold our world toghether. You can hear the conversations coming off the canvas because you’ve had those conversations. You can feel the energy jumping up in praise from his church paintings because you’ve been in that church. The current of humor that flows through all of Malone’s works speak to a dignity of the human spirit that is often lost in our age of aesthetic irony. There are times when art is what it is, nothing more, with no hidden agendas. Just a man seeing the traditions and the changes of the world around him and wanting to capture it for all time. The world James Malone started painting over 60 years ago has changed drastically, yet surprisingly that world has changed little at all.
Kevin Sipp, Curator
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