In the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, Thelonious Monk Ellison sums up his practice: I just invent little people in my mind and make them have conversations with each other. Director Cord Jefferson adapted the movie from Percival Everetts novel Erasure, a story that confronts stereotypes and the pressures of performing identity. Artist Ronald Jackson picks up that thread and pushes it into the realm of painting with his solo exhibition An American Fiction at Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, on view from September 5 to October 3.
A cast list painted in oil
Jackson, known for vibrant portraiture, treats the show like a roll call for an imagined screenplay. Each work doubles as a character introduction, complete with roles and the names of the actors who might portray them. The conceit is both playful and pointed, expanding the films concerns through a new medium.
- Guy Story: Acclaimed author and neighborhood watch volunteer, played by Rashad Hamilton in AN AMERICAN FICTION (2026), oil on canvas, 52 d 46 inches
- Pervis Brown: The Apprentice of Oddly Uncommon Trades, played by Cornelius Dunston in AN AMERICAN FICTION (2026), oil on canvas, 60 d 48 inches
- Bradley Ernesto Hillman with daughter Arlo: The Orchestrators of Unusual Happenings, played by Samuel Lead and Erica Dewberry in AN AMERICAN FICTION (2026), oil on canvas, 72 d 60 inches
- Joy Louise Parker: The Young Widow Who Returned Home, played by Regina Rhodes in AN AMERICAN FICTION (2026), oil on canvas, 60 d 48 inches
- Sanford Billings: Shop Owner and Private Investigator, played by Malik Downs in AN AMERICAN FICTION (2026), oil on canvas, 52 d 46 inches
Across the series, clues surface in costume and bearing1 portrait, for instance, pictures a Black man with dreadlocks and a red handkerchief knotted at his neckto seed the viewers reading of the role. The names, occupations, and casting collectively outline the contours of a story that remains just out of frame.
Masks and the unseen narrative
Jackson has long approached portraiture as a catalyst for collaborative storytelling. In an earlier body of work, he introduced the recurring character Johnnie Mae King, inviting the public to imagine her history through flash fiction and other writings. His signature mask motif reappears throughout An American Fiction, a device he explicitly frames as a prompt to look past surfaces. As Jackson writes: I use the mask not to conceal but to signal that a rich, un-excavated narrative exists beneath the surface. It asks the viewer to consider what lies beyond the visible role, prompting a question central to performance: are we admiring the superficial? Do we distinguish between the performer and the character being played? Do we recognize that there is likely a very different reality than the one being presented to us?
Blending cinematic structure with painted portrait, An American Fiction extends the films provocation into the gallery, inviting viewers in Baltimore to meet a cast whose stories beckon beyond the canvas.
