Jon Key is a Queer Black man originally from the small rural town Seale, Alabama now living and working in Bushwick, NY. A writer, designer and painter, his work excavates the lineage and history of his identity through four themes: Southernness, Blackness, Queerness, and Family. Through the process of writing, photography and painting, Jon’s work is portrayed graphically through four colors: Green, Black, Violet and Red. Respectively, these colors intertwine memory and intimate recounting of the four pillars grounding the work.
As an educator, Jon has taught at MICA, Parsons, and currently teaches at Cooper Union. Jon is the Co-Founder and Design Director of Codify Art, a multidisciplinary collective dedicated to creating, producing, supporting, and showcasing work by artists of color, particularly women, queer, and trans artists of color.
Jon work has been showcased in The Armory Show with Steve Turner LA, Carl Freedman Gallery, Jeffrey Deitch NY and included in personal and institutional collections including Yale University, AIEVA Institute, and The Dean Collection. Key’s work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic. Jon was selected for Forbes 30 under 30 Art and Style list for 2020 and was the Frank Staton Chair in Graphic Design at Cooper Union 2018-2019.