Influenced by classic gangster films, Terrell Jones has a distinctive style that captures imagination and nostalgia. He is about to auction a second piece at Sotheby’s and has a patented “soft-shell taco method” to garner the attention of notable collectors.
Born in Ann Arbour, Michigan, Jones has a visually distinct style. But it is his ability to tell stories through his art such as the collections “Evil in Colour” and “Good and Evil” that sets him apart. Just in the last two months, Jones has had some of his highest-ever sales, and there is growing interest in his work.
“A big thing for me has always been to try to connect my stories and images with a deeper part of everyone. With the way things are moving now and with so many artists, people are probably seeing more art within a day than you probably would have seen within a year. It’s been a big shift,” Jones says.
“Because we can see so much art, I wanted to have my stuff stick to people in a deeper sense. I want them to remember.”
In a similar vein to Grant Yun (featured last week in NFT Creator), Jones is a big fan of drawing on evocative memories and a sense of longing for the past.
“I’m definitely trying to connect the viewers and collectors of my art with nostalgia. A lot of the music I listen to is for nostalgic reasons. A lot of the movies and shows I watch are for nostalgic reasons. I lead with nostalgia in a sense with my work,” stated Jones.
“Especially with the ‘Evil and Color’ series, a lot of it does come from old gangster films or old crime films. They’ve been super influential for me and I was very much into them. I’m talking about The Sopranos, Goodfellas, Scarface and all those types of classics.”
Despite all of the recent interest, Jones remains firmly grounded.
“I can remember times where people didn’t care about what I was doing or what I was minting. Recent times have been a huge contrast to that, and it’s a big change. I’m grateful for it.”
Influences
Jones singles out American visual artist George Condo as his No. 1 influence.
“I’m a fan of a lot of artists, but George Condo is my favorite for sure. A lot of my early work was pretty much Condo-like copies.”
“I also have to give shoutouts to Edward Hopper (American realist painter and printmaker), Hiroshi Guy (Americano pop style painter), David Hockney (English painter, printmaker and photographer), Phil Hale (American figurative painter), Yue Minjun (Chinese contemporary artist).”
“You’ve also got Takashi Murakami and Mpcoz who are doing amazing things in NFTs.”
Personal style
Jones’ style is simplistic yet fascinating. It takes you to places in your mind and draws out memories you may not have thought of for years or even decades.
“I describe my style as a kind of a blend of pop art from around the ‘80s. I was definitely inspired by that a lot. Pop-Precisionism is how I like to speak about it — it’s a sub-genre in a sense.”
“I’m working to capture that feeling of nostalgia and that feeling of imagination, like when kids think anything is possible. I want to attempt to reignite that spark in us as adults now.”
In true Jones style, the devil is very much in the details with a number of his creations.
“I come from a religious background where angels and devils are a thing. It’s interesting because I think they exist but for me they don’t look or act necessarily anything like we think of them. For example, angels are like angelic figures with wings; they’re perfect, and they’re glowing. And with the devils, they are these red figures with the horns and all that stuff. I don’t feel like either of those necessarily look like that if they do exist,” says Jones.
His “Joy and Wonder” series led to a collaboration with notable NFT project Aku Akutars, founded by former Major League Baseball player Micah Johnson.
“The Akutars’ collaboration with Micah was great. Before I was connected with Micah, I had lots of people telling me that my space boy character reminded them of the Akutar character. It was an easy yes for me when Micah reached out. I had already been thinking of different concepts and pieces. Really fun to be a part of.”
Notable sales
NFT artists to watch out for?
Bringing a massive smile to his face, Jones informs us of three artists we should all be looking into.
Kodak LDN — Animator from Nigeria
“He’s a Nigerian artist I’ve been aware of for a long time. I think I might have been the first person to buy a piece from him. He’s a super talented animator, and I would love to work with him at some point,” Jones says.
“I really believe he’s one of the greatest animators I’ve seen. His work is not like anything else I’ve seen whether in the NFT space or out.”
Niah — Artist from Australia
“There’s certain artists where I just can’t nail how they created a piece of art, and Niah is one of those. She’s one of those artists where I’ll zoom in on her pieces and wonder how she got certain parts so clear even though it’s so intricate. Niah is just super talented.”
Rozwell — Creator
“I described him as our Steve Jobs. He’s insane. The project that he’s about to come out with I believe is going to change a lot of stuff for the NFT space. I think that it will definitely start like a whole new meta. People should definitely keep an eye out for that.”
Process
With inspiration recently coming from classic crime and gangster films, Jones’ creativity is often sparked by watching classic films, and he uses the tool Procreate to help bring his creativity alive.
“When I’m watching those movies, I’ll start to think of ideas and put them into my notes. Other times, I’ll be doing the most random things, and I’ll just have an idea pop to mind. From there, I’ll start to sketch it out. I’ve always said, ‘If I have a good sketch, then I can probably finish a piece in a day or two,’” Jones shares.
“Following the sketch — and if I’m happy with it — I’ll start to block out the colors, and from there, I work in a way where I work on individual characters or crucial aspects of a piece like a car separately. I try to work on separate files and eventually combine all the files. Part of that process is due to file size and layer constraints with Procreate, but overall, I think it makes my art cleaner.”
Soft-shell taco method: Attracting collectors
VincentVanDough was the notable NFT collector whose interest helped Jones rise up the ranks. He credits what he called his “soft-shell taco method” of subtly getting his art in front of the right people, in contrast to the “hard-shell taco method” of spamming links to everyone and hassling collectors via DMs.
“[It’s] more on trying to find ways to put your art in front of people’s eyes in a way that isn’t forcing it on them. You’re kind of making them run into your art by accident on purpose,” says Jones.
“I kind of soft-shell-taco’d Vince at a certain point, and he was made aware of me. He dug into my art a bit more and ended up matching my all-time high sale at the time by purchasing my “Birthday Boy” piece in late 2021.”
“Since then, Vince has helped me go on runs with some of his SuperRare purchases. We’re super friendly and talk a lot. Even though he’s a busy person, he’ll often have different advice for me or he’ll see different things and offer perspective. I’m definitely grateful for him.”
Links:
Lynkfire: https://lynkfire.com/terrelldom
Twitter: https://twitter.com/terrelldom