About Chuck Jones, PhD — Abstract Art Exhibition History

I wrote orientations to my work on the first couple pages of this site, so I won’t re-detail that.

Mainly, I’m currently experimenting with what I’m coming to think of as “Light Fields” — that is, color fields from a different perspective. Back in the beginning of the last century, the Russian painter, Malevich, spoke of abandoning the preoccupation with painting objects for painting feelings. It was an idea carried along through the converging position of the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1950’s and 60’s, where, without any art background to realize what was influencing me, the Zeitgeist seemed to somehow shape what I did in my earlier years.

Now, I’m playing with a quality of ethereal impressionism — hence, my Light Fields idea. I like the colors to blend and glow. As I said earlier, it’s rather new, so we’ll see what happens.Description text goes here

Some French friends, Francoise Davoine and the late Jean-Max Gaudilliere, wrote a harrowing but profound book titled, History Beyond Trauma, offering this subtitle: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one cannot stay silent,” they said.

It’s a play on the idea there is much outside our internal awareness driving our lives; some of it incessantly shaping our path despite being consciously unknown; something that insists on being recognized despite our desire to ignore and even disown it.

In keeping with their wisdom, I paint from a foundational question, asking the deeper quiet space with, “What wants to be said.” Or similarly but slightly differently stated, “What wants to reveal itself?” I’m looking for the internal felt sense that’s trying to find its way to the surface - in words or in paint. It’s a powerful orienting tool, challenging to wield but meaningful to explore.

Over time, I’ll explain more in the Studio-Notes section, linked above. Check in periodically, if you’re interested.Description text goes here

I’ve painted for over forty years, more seriously - meaning most days - for the last dozen. With encouragement from the only teacher I’ve had — the late and wondrous Mary Todd Beam — I became more public in around 2017.

I was invited to a bunch of exhibitions just in time for the Covid Pandemic. Then, in January of 2020, I joined a small local company producing Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl). I finally had use for my chemistry major. HOCl is the substance our white blood cells produce to kill invading pathogens. The key is: The immunity cells have to RECOGNIZE the pathogen to kill it. We had a bright idea for a mitigation as people were dying everywhere.

Why not aerosolize the antiviral - i.e., HOCl - to kill the Covid externally before it could kill us internally. We did studies to demonstrate it did NOT harm lung tissue (even later finding one from England, issued in 1940 where a guy was talking about aerosolizing it to protect people from Influenza in a mill). It worked in 1940. It worked in 2020.

However, despite all our safety demonstrations, there was no way to get the EPA to accept it. But we still used it. In fact, in this little East Tennessee area, it was aerosolized for 3,000,000 hours with no deleterious effects reported while many facilities marveled that they had no spreading events.

Anyway - you can see the distraction here.

Lots of disillusionment with agencies, journalists, publications, and people who would have had the power to help. If you do a literature review NOW (2025) you’ll find research touting efficacy.

The company died. I still use the stuff and, to my knowledge, have not been sick since before the pandemic - with anything.

So, back to art: The literal thousands of hours required for that effort distracted me a bit. I still painted. I still submitted.

But, I became rather disillusioned with the Commercial Art World — and certainly with Social Media. So, I stopped applying until just recently (January of 2025) when I decided to just reach out to see what I could stir up.

Which is where we are right now.