Men's Group: The Video

Ben Jones (born 1977), one third of the artist collective Paper Rad and progeny of Providence's Fort Thunder warehouse-based art scene, makes work that harks back to the Saturday morning cartoons and video games of the 1980s. Jones' previous book, "New Painting and Drawing," quickly sold out, making "Men's Group Black Math"--his newest volume, beautifully bound in dark blue denim covers--the only currently available collection of his work. The book's theme is maleness: in addition to Jones' signature neon-infused images, paintings, digital pictures and built environments, "Men's Group Black Math" includes a 24-page comic strip about contemporary male life, plus a series of texts about manhood commissioned from men the artist admires, including artists Peter Saul, Gary Panter and Joe Bradley, writers Keith McCulloch and Byron Coley and gallerist Phil Grauer. Topping it all off is a lengthy interview with Jones conducted by Dan Nadel.