Jon Key’s paintings feature his own likeness as a contorted black man in a variety of poses against green, black, violet and red backgrounds. The colors render the figure flamboyant and provocative while the tight framing stifles his freedom. 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.

Born 1990, Seale, Alabama
Lives and works in Brooklyn

Education
2013
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Brown University, Providence

2008
Summer Program, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

2005
Summer Program, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2024
Elsewhere, Steve Turner, Los Angeles

2023
Second Goodbyes, Steve Turner, New York

2022
Suits Me, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
I, Too, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, England

2021
Lean On Me, Steve Turner, Los Angeles

2020
Seale(d), Steve Turner, Los Angeles
The Armory Show (with Steve Turner), New York

2019
Violet Alabama, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Violet: Mythologies and Other Truths, Rubber Factory, New York
SPRING/BREAK Art Show (with Ross+Kramer Gallery), New York

2018
SPRING/BREAK Art Show (with Codify Art), New York

Group Exhibitions
2024
Spring Break, Steve Turner, Los Angeles

2022
Frieze London (with Carl Freedman Gallery)
Untitled, Miami Beach (with Steve Turner)

2021
Untitled, Miami Beach (with Steve Turner)
The Armory Show, New York (with Steve Turner)
Breakfast Under the Tree, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate
Our World Two, Steve Turner, Los Angeles

2020
Black Voices/Black Microcosm, CFHILL, Stockholm, Sweden

2019
Untitled, Miami Beach (with Steve Turner)
On the Map, Denny Dimin Hong Kong
PAPER VIEW, The Hole, New York

2018
Punch, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, New York
The Key Twins, Studio 301, Brooklyn
Codify Art, The Public Theater, New York

2017
The Anxious Body, Angell Gallery, Toronto
32nd Biennial of Graphic Arts, MGLC, Ljubljana, Slovenia
If You Were in My Body, Fierman Gallery, New York
Rock Paper Scissors and a Three-Armed Shovel, Baxter St at CCNY, New York
Environmental Projection Agency, Bau Haus, Brooklyn
SPRING/BREAK Art Show (with Codify Art), New York
Brown Paper Zine and Small Press Fair, MoCADA Museum, Brooklyn
Endless Edition Zine and Art Bienniale, Endless Edition, New York

2016
You Are Here, Bau Haus, Brooklyn
Afropunk Featured Artist, Commodore Park, Brooklyn
Work, Outlet, Brooklyn

2015
Bau Haus Semi-Annual, Bau Haus, Brooklyn
Odds and Ends Book Fair, Yale University Art Gallery
Artists Against Police Violence, EMW Bookstore, Boston
About Face, Bau Haus, Brooklyn

Bibliography
2021
Pricco, Evan. “Lean On Me: Jon Key @ Steve Turner, Los Angeles,” Juxtapoz Magazine, May 11
Illustration by Jon Key, Abdurraqib, Hanif. “A World of Black Intimacy at the Card Table,” The New York Times, February 24
Angelos, Ayla. “Depicting the nuance of identity within the Black queer community, Jon Key’s works are powerful and arresting,” It’s Nice That, January 18

2020
Teszler, Sonja. “Interview with Jon Key,” Maake Magazine, September

2019
Walsh, Danielle. “The 5 Most Exciting Emerging Artists at Miami Art Week,” Vanity Fair, December 12
Wooten, Nick. “‘Changing the face of society.’ Twin artists on Forbes Under 30 list are Columbus grads,” Ledger-Enquirer, December 11
Russell, Tovey. Diament, Robert. “Jon Key (NYC special episode),” Talk Art, December 5
“2020 30 Under 30 – Art & Style,” Forbes, December 3
Mizota, Sharon. “A walker’s guide to gallery hopping along Highland Avenue,” Los Angeles Times, September 30
Saltz, Jerry. “A Radical New History of Queer Modernism,” Vulture, April 8
Machado, Danilo. “Jon Key: Violet: Mythologies and Other Truths,” Brooklyn Rail, March 17
Cohen, Alina. “7 Artists Who Stole the Show at Spring/Break,” Artsy, March 6
Casconne, Sarah. “These 7 Outrageous SPRING/BREAK Installations Are Stranger Than Fiction,” Artnet News, March 6
McClure, Diana. “JON KEY’S PAINTINGS EXPLORE ‘MYTHOLOGIES’ OF IDENTITY,” AFROPUNK, February 19
Kristoff, Anne. “Twin brothers from a small Alabama town turn heads in the New York art world,” Alabama NewsCenter, February 8
Graves, Cassidy Dawn. “Art This Week: Construction, Windows, and Queer Black Bodies,” Bedford & Bowery, February 5
“Editors’ Picks: 5 Great Art and Design Events This Week,” Galerie, February 4

2018
Smith, Roberta. “Four Knockout Group Shows to See Now,” New York Times, October 19
Chrysanne, LaChelle. “Doing The Work With Jon & Jarrett Key,” UNPOPCULTR, July 2

2016
Cherry, Maurice. “Episode 163: Jonathan Key,” Revision Path, October 24
Meredith, Maya. Wade in the Water, Justseeds, March

2015
“Jonathan Key: We are Bullet Proof,” ADC Global, September 25