An untraditional view of virtues, sins

Christendom’s seven classical virtues —- faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance —- and seven deadly sins —- envy, sloth, pride, avarice, greed, lust, anger —- have inspired artists through the ages. Now Benjamin Jones has a go in a wonderful series of 23 drawings at Barbara Archer Gallery.

Artists of yore often represented the sins or virtues as characters engaged in illustrative activity. Jones uses figures, too —-the distinctive assortment those with skeletal heads or toothy pumpkin (unhappy) smiles, some with elaborated cones for bodies or stick-figure limbs that populate all of his work.

“Hope” is as close to a traditional personification as he comes. He is less interested in illustrating virtues and vices than in commenting on their consequences in our world, as in the skeletal figure glowing radioactive red in “Nuclear Winter.”

In fact, you frequently couldn’t tell sin or virtue apart without the title. The figure in “War Doll” has one leg —- a pointed reference to the ravages of war —- but then many of his figures have no limbs at all. There’s an underlying poignancy throughout: Jones seems to lack the carapace that most of us develop as a defense against the raw feeling that his figures embody, and he breaks it down in the viewer in such drawings as “Horror.”

Whether dark or buoyant, the drawings are a visual delight. The deft use of color and collage to punctuate a composition, the contrast of spare mark-making and dense patterns, and the crabbed lettering combine with a sense of urgency to create a most compelling body of work.

REVIEW

“Benjamin Jones: Sins + Virtues.”

Through Jan. 7. Barbara Archer Gallery. 280 Elizabeth St. #A012, Atlanta. 404-523-1845. www.barbaraarcher.com

Bottom line: See this because Benjamin Jones is so good at what he does.