Newspaper Page Text
6
August 17, 1995
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Solving for
xavier Jones is a techno
street fighter with a vision
to match his talent.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
nconstrained by the dictates of
the artsy crowd with their galleries
and juried exhibits, the X-man is con
cerned only with acquiring more space
for his stuff. But, in his case, we're talk
ing about a lot of stuff. For Jones, the
elbow room that he requires extends into
cyber as well as outer space.
As a computer buff, with the RAMS
and Mac to prove it, and an animation
disciple with a flair for fantasy, Jones
views life as an artist on the outer edge.
Asanartist, he hasalways embraced the
digital world. Jones’ quest for space expands
with his vision. As a futurist with the mind and
temperament of a Renaissance Man, X’s images, both physical and
digital, are way out of the ordinary.
Basically, he is a storyteller. And the tales are quite unusual.
Dreaming them up and telling them have never been a problem —
where and how to tell them has been the challenge. But, for X the key
component always comes down to space — space to store his
thousands of creations and characters, either in closets or on hard
drives. And space to live — to create.
For Jones, as an artist and a businessman, goals are not high
falutin’ affairs of short-range and mid-range and long-range options.
“Basically, my goal is to stay solvent. If I can service the existing
marketplace and create new ones, I'll be moving in the right
direction,” the X-Man says.
And move he does, but always in unexpected ways.
One area he’s moving in is comic books. As a long-time illustrator
and creator, Xavieris looking to make Augusta somewhat of a media
center.
“I'd like to see a comics group based in Augusta,” X says. A couple
of years ago it happened. As a member of Full Force Grafix, a local
creative consortium, X had a hand in developing Ground Zero, The
Anthology — a comic book.
“We pooled our resources and we did it,” Xavier says. The product,
with full color on the cover, sold well locally and garnered a lot oflocal
media attention. X’s contribution to the book was a chapter entitled
“Silent Running” which he co-wrote with Augustan Travis Hollaway.
While comics and animation have always been passions, X has
moved in many other directions.
Asa contributor toSuperstock, one of the largest suppliers of photo
images for world-wide distribution, X has ventured into territory
where few artists drift.
X’simages can alsobe found on clothing. His African-inspired crest
for African Americans found its way across the country on a line of
clothing by a local designer.
Not content to confine his art to four-sided canvas, X has been
using the t-shirt as his canvas for years. His creations range from
Star Trek characters, figures from local black history, or anything
that can be etched, scratched, painted, printed or pasted on a t-shirt.
The public’s acceptance of such personal attention has made such
activities fairly lucrative.
“The demand is incredible,” X says. “It is more acceptable in 1995
to sell a t-shirt for $95.00,” he says.
Asin all areas of marketing, the niche is the thing. The X-Man has
art » music ¢ literature » theatre
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made a living catering to the non-traditional tastes of fantasy buffs,
gamers, trekkers and comic book lovers.
And while those images come easy for him, he does see their
acceptance as sort of a challenge posed by the wider African-
American market. Spurred by-the démand for more traditional
African-American themes (Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, the
Buffalo Soldiers) X is embarking on a production schedule that will
feed that demand. His plans range from the Black Panthers to the
more traditional Greek letter organizations, but don’t expect the
ordinary. The X-man has a few new ideas on the drawing board.
X can be found this weekend at a booth at the Fifth Annual Black
Expo at the civic center on Saturday. Hit him up for a t-shirt design
or a portrait on demand, but please, don’t crowd him. The man needs
his space. —By Frederick Benjamin Sr.
‘. 35:" = j?‘ l
From illustrations in acrylic on
board (top) to comic book
covers (left) to t-shirt designs
rendered in airbrush (above),
Xavier Jones is a jack- and
master-of-all-trades artist.
“Basically, my goail is to stay
solvent. If | can service the
existing marketplace and
create new ones, I'll be
moving in the right direction,”
the X-Man says.