° 1944, San Bernardino (USA)
Lives and works in New York (USA)

More then thirty years Jones has been working on a consistent oeuvre of drawings, sculptures and performances. War drawings, rat sculptures, combat vehicles and performances as his alter ego Mudman: they all have their origin in the experiences of the young Jones. Not only his participation as a soldier in the Vietnam War plays a significant role in his work, also the illness that kept him in a wheelchair between the age of seven and ten. During this period Jones developed a whole private world in his head. Today we can still find some parts of this magical world in his work.
At the age of ten Jones made his first war drawing – he still has some from 1957-58 – after he was inspired by the typical war games he played with his friend in the garden. The labyrinth games where you find the treasure by going through the maze with your pencil are another inspiration for Jones and make him draw scenes without any perspective. In the beginning the works were just a game Jones played for himself with pencil and eraser, but since the eighties they are a main part of his oeuvre.
The war sometimes goes on at other drawings and bodies. A series of magazine fashion photos Jones found in 1983 in the trash somewhere on 6th Avenue in New York City serve as an undertone for wars and mutations. Young men and women change in skeletons, androgynous figures and organisms. The works have several different dates, because Jones continues to work on them over the years. Limbs are extended and adapted, faces hided and backgrounds made into even more strange creatures.
The same iconography appears on the black and white drawings: people in combat, fantastic figures and studies for Mudman. Mudman was born mid seventies when Jones covered himself with sticks and mud and appeared on the streets. These performances are an important source for the other works, where the recycling of materials and motifs, as well as reworking of drawings, installations and performances is the main theme.

(installation and performance), Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA (US)

"Drawn from Artists' Collections", The Drawing Center, New York, NY (US)

"Face a l'histoire: 1933-1996", Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (FR), (cat.)

"The Return of the Cadavre Exquis", Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO (US)

The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection - Catalogue Raisonné
The Museum of Modern Art, New York (US) - texts by RATTEMEYER Christian, LOWRY Glenn D., SCHOLIS Brian, TUMLIR Jan, HERMES Manfred, GRAW Isabelle, HERBERT Martin, GERSON Scott

The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860 - 1989
Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York (US) - texts by MUNROE Alexandra, ARMSTRONG Richard

A Life of Secrets - Spit - War Drawing
Pierogi Press, New York (US) - text by JONES Kim

Collage - The UnMonumental Picture
the New Museum / Merrell Publishers, New York (US) - texts by FLOOD Richard, HOPTMAN Laura, GIONI Massimiliano

think with the senses / feel with the mind - art in the present tense
The Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (IT)

Mudman: The Odyssey of Kim Jones
The MIT Press, Edited by Sandra Q. Firmin

Kim Jones: War Paint
Pierogi, New York, NY (US)

Contemporary Art at MoMA Since 1980
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (US) - editors: Kirk Varnedoe, Paola Antonelli, Joshua Siegel

Chain #7 - Memoir
text and portfolio, pg. 98-102

Performance: Live Art Since 1960
Abrams, New York (US)

Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object: 1949-1979
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Thames and Hudson (US) - Paul Schimmel

Face a l'histoire: 1933 - 1996
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (FR)

Mapping
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (US) - Robert Storr

Art & Otherness: Crisis in Cultural Identity
Documentext McPherson & Company - pg. 34

Performance Anthology and Source Book of California Performance Art
Last Grasp Oress and Contemporary Art Press, San Francisco, CA (US)

Kim Jones - Unwinding the Vietnam War
The Real Comet Press - pg. 111-119 - Reese Williams

Apocalypse Culture
Amok Press, pg. 81-100

Notations
Richard Flood - introduction by Nancy Princethal