In Conversation: Samuel Levi Jones and David Alan Grier

Vielmetter Los Angeles invites guests to join actor David Alan Grier and artist Samuel Levi Jones on the occasion of Jones's exhibition abstraction of truth for a conversation on artistic practice, the role of artists in society, and the intersections between the performing arts and visual arts.

abstraction of truth is on view at Vielmetter Los Angeles from September 14 through November 9, 2024.

Free guest parking is available. Seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Samuel Levi Jones was born and raised in Marion, Indiana. Trained as a photographer and multidisciplinary artist, he earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from Taylor University and a B.F.A from Herron School of Art and Design in 2009. He received his MFA in Studio Art from Mills College in 2012.

Samuel's work is informed by historical source material and early modes of representation in documentary practice. He explores the framing of power structures and struggles between exclusion and equality by desecrating historical material, then re-imagining new works. Jones investigates issues of manipulation and the rejection of control in a broad sense.

He is the recipient of the 2014 Joyce Alexander Wein artist prize awarded to him by the Studio Museum in Harlem. His work is in prominent private and public collections including SFMOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Rubell Family Collection, LACMA, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, and the Dallas Museum of Art to name a few.

David Alan Grier is currently starring on the TV comedy series “St. Denis Medical” premiering this fall on NBC. Also appeared on “Joe Pickett” a drama series on Spectrum. Received a Tony award for his portrayal of Sergeant Waters in the Broadway premiere of “A Soldier’s Play” Also seen on the Fox comedy The Cool Kids was trained in Shakespeare at Yale, where he received an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Grier has received many accolades and awards throughout his career, not the least of which was his inclusion on Comedy Central’s list of the “100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.”

Grier’s television work is highlighted predominately by his turn as a principal cast member on the Emmy Award-winning In Living Color (1990–1994), where he created and portrayed some of the show’s most memorable characters. He starred in DAG (2000–2001) and Life with Bonnie (2003), which earned him Image Award and Golden Satellite Award nominations. In 2008, David created, wrote and starred in Comedy Central’s Chocolate News. He also starred as ‘Principal Carl Gaines’ in Bad Teacher on CBS in the 2013-2014 television season.

On the big screen, Grier starred in “They Cloned Tyrone” and “Candy Cane Lane” and “The American Society of Magical Negroes. Starred in Peeples (2013), opposite Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson, as well as appeared in the Wayans Brothers’ movie DANCE FLICK (2009). He made his film debut in STREAMERS (1983), directed by Robert Altman for which he along with the cast won the Golden Lion for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. He will soon be seen in “They Cloned Tyrone” premiering on Netflix later this year.

Grier began his professional career on Broadway as Jackie Robinson in the musical The First, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and won the Theatre World Award (1981). He then joined the cast of Dreamgirls before going on to star opposite Denzel Washington in A Soldier’s Play, also appearing together in the film adaptation, A SOLDIER’S STORY (1984).

Host or Publisher Vielmetter Los Angeles