{"id":3268,"date":"2026-09-05T03:32:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/ronald-jackson-stages-a-cast-of-characters-in-an-american-fiction-at-galerie-myrtis\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T03:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:32:04","slug":"ronald-jackson-stages-a-cast-of-characters-in-an-american-fiction-at-galerie-myrtis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/ronald-jackson-stages-a-cast-of-characters-in-an-american-fiction-at-galerie-myrtis\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronald Jackson Stages a Cast of Characters in \u0018An American Fiction\u0019 at Galerie Myrtis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, Thelonious \u001cMonk\u001d Ellison sums up his practice: \u001cI just invent little people in my mind and make them have conversations with each other.\u001d Director <strong>Cord Jefferson<\/strong> adapted the movie from <strong>Percival Everett\u0019s<\/strong> novel <em>Erasure<\/em>, a story that confronts stereotypes and the pressures of performing identity. Artist <strong>Ronald Jackson<\/strong> picks up that thread and pushes it into the realm of painting with his solo exhibition <strong>An American Fiction<\/strong> at <strong>Galerie Myrtis<\/strong> in Baltimore, on view from <strong>September 5 to October 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">A cast list painted in oil<\/h2>\n<p>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 film\u0019s concerns through a new medium.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u001c<strong>Guy Story: Acclaimed author and neighborhood watch volunteer, played by Rashad Hamilton in AN AMERICAN FICTION<\/strong>\u001d (2026), oil on canvas, 52 \u0000d 46 inches<\/li>\n<li>\u001c<strong>Pervis Brown: The Apprentice of Oddly Uncommon Trades, played by Cornelius Dunston in AN AMERICAN FICTION<\/strong>\u001d (2026), oil on canvas, 60 \u0000d 48 inches<\/li>\n<li>\u001c<strong>Bradley \u0018Ernesto\u0019 Hillman with daughter Arlo: The Orchestrators of Unusual Happenings, played by Samuel Lead and Erica Dewberry in AN AMERICAN FICTION<\/strong>\u001d (2026), oil on canvas, 72 \u0000d 60 inches<\/li>\n<li>\u001c<strong>Joy \u0018Louise\u0019 Parker: The Young Widow Who Returned Home, played by Regina Rhodes in AN AMERICAN FICTION<\/strong>\u001d (2026), oil on canvas, 60 \u0000d 48 inches<\/li>\n<li>\u001c<strong>Sanford Billings: Shop Owner and Private Investigator, played by Malik Downs in AN AMERICAN FICTION<\/strong>\u001d (2026), oil on canvas, 52 \u0000d 46 inches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Across the series, clues surface in costume and bearing\u00141 portrait, for instance, pictures a Black man with dreadlocks and a red handkerchief knotted at his neck\u0014to seed the viewer\u0019s reading of the role. The names, occupations, and \u001ccasting\u001d collectively outline the contours of a story that remains just out of frame.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">Masks and the unseen narrative<\/h2>\n<p>Jackson has long approached portraiture as a catalyst for collaborative storytelling. In an earlier body of work, he introduced the recurring character <strong>Johnnie Mae King<\/strong>, inviting the public to imagine her history through flash fiction and other writings. His signature mask motif reappears throughout <em>An American Fiction<\/em>, a device he explicitly frames as a prompt to look past surfaces. As Jackson writes: \u001cI 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?\u001d<\/p>\n<p>Blending cinematic structure with painted portrait, <em>An American Fiction<\/em> extends the film\u0019s provocation into the gallery, inviting viewers in Baltimore to meet a cast whose stories beckon beyond the canvas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>V\u00eda <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/09\/ronald-jackson-portraits-an-american-fiction\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thisiscolossal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore from September 5 to October 3, Ronald Jackson\u0019s An American Fiction presents oil-on-canvas portraits titled like a casting sheet, extending themes raised by the Oscar-winning film American Fiction. The series reprises Jackson\u0019s mask motif and includes works such as \u001cPervis Brown\u001d (2026) and \u001cGuy Story\u001d (2026).<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}