Steve Turner is pleased to present Elsewhere, a solo exhibition featuring new paintings by Jon Key. During the summer of 2023, following six years of rigorous work and numerous exhibitions, Key decided to expand his studio practice to include more spontaneity and vulnerability.

Where his works from the past few years were highly structured compositions in which each acrylic color represented an aspect of his life (red for family; green for Southerness; black for Blackness and violet for queerness), for Elsewhere Key loosened up his previous rules to convey more heartfelt, introspective moments from his own experience. He opted for a looser, freer brush stroke in oil rather than graphic precision. While the new work still depicts Jon’s likeness, his eyes are now closed and his arms are outstretched. This is a new vision.

Jon Key (born 1990, Seale, Alabama) earned a BFA at Rhode Island School of Design (2013) before moving to Brooklyn where he began developing his studio and design practices. He has had solo and two-person exhibitions at Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (2022); Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, New York); Rubber Factory, New York (2019) and The Armory Show, New York (2020).