HENRY
JONES: 1957-2022
M.
Henry Jones, a gifted artist, filmmaker, and 3D
photographer, died on
June 16th, at the age of 65. He spent his lifetime
dedicated to
carving out his own path as an experimental artist.
He was a devoted
partner for 36 years to filmmaker Rachel Amodeo and
a loving father
to their son Atticus.
Henry
was born in Morgan City, Louisiana on February 16,
1957, and spent
his childhood in Texas. He came to New York City
from Buffalo in 1975
with a scholarship to SVA [School of Visual Arts].
There, he pursued
his love of animation that led to his monumental
film “Soul City,”
a stroboscopic color film created in collaboration
with the
Fleshtones band. Henry once said that his film “Soul
City” was
intended to “visually counterpoint the music of a
subculture.”
Henry's
work was an integral part of the underground
filmmaking and art scene
of the late 1970s in the East Village. Like his
mentor, the legendary
polymath, filmmaker and musicologist Harry Smith,
Henry couldn’t be
fit into a box. His hands‑on approach and dedication
to his
imagined future, made him a consummate outsider.
Henry
maintained Harry's legacy by putting on an elaborate
experimental
light and projection show highlighting Smith's work.
Henry
was a neighborhood fixture of the East Village,
where he ran his
studio, called Snake Monkey, for 20 years at 202
Avenue A. There, he
created animation projects, sculptures, TV
commercials, Zone‑plate
photography, lenticular explorations, and many
experiments of his
imagination. When Henry relocated his studio to 10th
Street and
Avenue C in 2008, he dove into the invention and
exploration of his
Fly’s‑Eye 3D projects, which included portraits of
Robert
Frank and Jim Jarmusch. He continued these
explorations throughout
the rest of his life.
In
2018, Henry was a part of MoMA’s exhibition Club 57:
Film,
Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983.
He was
represented by Gallery 98. His films included Soul
City (preserved as
a 35mm print by Anthology Film Archives), Apple
Heart Daisy, Go‑Go
Girl and many others.
M.
Henry Jones is remembered as a kind visionary
genius, a legend and
innovator who moved the art world in a wonderful
direction with his
inventions and creations. A mad scientist with a
heart of gold
dedicated to making this world a better place.
A
memorial for Henry will be held on September 15 at
St. Marks Church,
at 6:30pm.
–Jen
[For
more on Henry and his work, including an interview
with Henry, visit
the snakemonkey website at:
https://snakemonkey.com/backup/–Ed.]
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