DonChristian Jones, the first Adobe Creative Resident at MoMA, is a New York–based artist, musician, and producer whose diverse artistic practice spans painting, music, film and video, time-based performance, and public murals, while blending genres of painting and performance installation. Jones’s work has been deeply influenced by engaging with various communities and a commitment to socially engaged art. In the spring of 2020, Jones founded Public Assistants, a community design studio and mutual-aid hub located in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
At the conclusion of their Adobe Creative Residency at MoMA, DonChristian Jones presents an exhibition at MoMA PS1, The Sumptuous Discovery of Gotham a Go-Go. The installation is inspired by their Bed-Stuy studio, home to Public Assistants (PA, est. 2020), a space for queer and trans people of color to skill-share, create, and cultivate joy. At MoMA PS1, Jones has created a clandestine study that imagines a portal into their “double life” over the past 15 years, teaching and painting during the day while rapping and performing at night. The exhibition incorporates design elements inspired by film noir, Blaxploitation films, the Harlem Renaissance, and contemporary Ballroom culture. Extending the artist’s ongoing practice of world-building, the project includes a performance program celebrating Jones’s community of creative practitioners. Staged as an outpost of PA, The Sumptuous Discovery of Gotham a Go-Go offers a place to meet, perform, and conspire.
