The language of sound structures our understanding of the world: A “composition” is both a piece of music and the makeup of a whole; one’s unique contribution to a text or artwork is their “voice.” For decades now, Ohio-born, New York-based artist Jennie C. Jones has been translating between music and the physical world in paintings, sculptures, installation, and sound works, responding to the legacies of Minimalism, modernism, and the Black avant-garde. “Ensemble,” which opens today, April 15, on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, extends this inquiry across a site-specific installation of three sculptural forms and one floor piece. On view through October 19, it is the museum’s final commission in the space before it undergoes renovations to create its Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing for Contemporary Art, anticipated to open in 2030.
The installation is composed of deep aubergine and hot red powder-coated aluminum and concrete forms inspired by string instruments, particularly those found in The Met’s extensive collection. A squat, inclined sculpture is based on a zither; a tall, slim piece draws upon the Aeolian harp; and a tripartite work with twin vertical parts and a long horizontal section recalls a one-string. These are partially circumscribed by a floor piece that gradually thickens from two points along the balcony’s edges toward their intersection.
