Jones Family
Mel Bochner's Win! , 2019
DALLAS, TEXAS–The Jones family epitomizes the mantra “Everything is bigger in Texas” — and they have the means to live that way: Forbes cites Jerry Jones’ net worth at more than $10 billion. Most of their art purchases over the past dozen-plus years have been for AT&T Stadium, including works by Anish Kapoor, Ellsworth Kelly, Olafur Eliasson, and Jenny Holzer. Gene and Jerry’s daughter, Charlotte Jones, shares, “My avidity for art grew when we set out to plan the building of AT&T Stadium and began our search for inspiration outside of sports … We recognized that, often, incredible architecture houses incredible art. We decided the building needed a renowned art collection, and that this endeavor would allow us to introduce fans of sport to contemporary art and admirers of art to our game of football.”
ART:
Anish Kapoor, Ellsworth Kelly, Olafur Eliasson, Jenny Holzer, Annette Lawrence, Matthew Ritchie, Doug Aitken, Eva Rothschild, Lawrence Weiner, Mel Bochner, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Jim Isermann, Teresita Fernández, Wolfgang Tillmans, Alyson Shotz
CV:
Charlotte Jones shares, “My avidity for art grew when we set out to plan the building of AT&T Stadium and began our search for inspiration outside of sports … We recognized that, often, incredible architecture houses incredible art.”
Q&A:
PC: When you started collecting — and why.
Charlotte Jones: I have always had an appreciation for art and fashion. But my avidity for art grew when we set out to plan the building of AT&T Stadium and began our search for inspiration outside of our industry of sport. We admired fashion houses, renowned architecture, and even contemporary art to inspire what would become AT&T Stadium. In this journey, we recognized that, often, incredible architecture housed incredible art. We decided that the building needed a renowned art collection and that this endeavor would allow us to introduce fans of sport to contemporary art and invites admirers of art to our game of football.
PC: How your collecting journey has changed in recent years.
We have always appreciated art that was inspired by sports or sporting venues. When we began to curate art for the stadium, we had to identify artists capable of giant-scale artwork to fit the spaces of AT&T Stadium. Those were the original focus, but we have now continued to fill spaces that allow for the more expected scale!
PC: Arts nonprofits in Texas you support whose mission resonates with you.
Charlotte Jones: The annual Arlington Independent School District Art Program provides more than 5,000 Arlington 5th and 8thgrade students each year with a docent-guided tour of the Dallas Cowboys Art Collection at AT&T Stadium, courtesy of the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Arlington Youth Foundation. Upon completion of their field trip, each student creates a work of art inspired by the Dallas Cowboys Art Collection, which consists of 60 works of art, 17 of which commissioned, representing 44 artists from around the world. Since the program’s inception in 2015, over 25,000 AISD 5th and 8th graders have participated in the Art program.
