{{Short description|Canadian artist, filmmaker, musician, and publisher}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = G. B. Jones | image = | caption = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_place = Bowmanville, Ontario | birth_date = 1965 | death_date = | origin = | instrument = Vocals, guitar, drums | genre = Post-punk | occupation = Musician, artist, filmmaker | years_active = 1980s–present | label = | associated_acts = Fifth Column, Bunny and the Lakers, Opera Arcana | website = }} '''G. B. Jones''' (born 1965){{cn|date=October 2025}} is a Canadian artist, filmmaker, musician, and publisher of zines. She is best known for producing the queer punk zine ''J.D.s'' and her ''Tom Girls'' drawings.
==Career== ===Music=== Jones' musical career began as a young child, singing Canadian folk songs in the school choir. Though she didn't have enough money to buy records, her uncle was very involved in the folk music community and exposed her to a musical education that would prove valuable later on.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2022-06-30 |title=A Conversation with G.B. Jones: The Foremother of Queercore & Riot Grrrl - A Grrrl's Two Sound Cents |url=https://agrrrlstwosoundcents.com/2022/06/30/a-conversation-with-g-b-jones-the-foremother-of-queercore-riot-grrrl/ |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=agrrrlstwosoundcents.com |language=en-US}}</ref> From the early 1980s to the late 1990s, Jones performed with the all-woman post-punk band Fifth Column, playing drums, guitar and background vocals, and was one of the co-founders of the group.<ref name=autogenerated1>McDonnell, Evelyn. [https://books.google.com/books?id=d2IEAAAAMBAJ&dq=fifth+column+band+punk+toronto&pg=PA87 ''Girls + Guitars'']. ''Out Magazine''. ''Vol. 8, No. 10''. Published by Here Publishing. April 2000.</ref> The band's first album, ''To Sir With Hate'' was released in 1985.<ref name=havenot>Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider, ''Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995''. ECW Press. {{ISBN|978-1-55022-992-9}}.</ref> In 2002, Fifth Column's last release, ''Imbecile'', appeared on the Kill Rock Stars compilation album ''Fields and Streams''.<ref name="popmatters">{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/various/various-fieldsandstreams.shtml|title=Indie Heaven, Circa 2002|author=Adrien Begrand|date=July 12, 2002|website=Pop Matters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020714145605/https://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/various/various-fieldsandstreams.shtml|archive-date=July 14, 2002|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Artwork and publications=== Jones initially received recognition for her ''Tom Girls'' drawings, which were published in the queer punk fanzine ''J.D.s'', founded by Jones and co-published with Bruce LaBruce.<ref name="Block">{{cite magazine|last1=Block|first1=Adam|title=The Queen of 'Zine|magazine=The Advocate|page=75|date=November 20, 1990}}</ref>
==== Themes ==== In an interview with Xtra Toronto, Jones shares, "I was interested in certain issues that I don't think many people may have picked up on in the work, ideas about authority figures, power, obviously, and the abuse of power, and gender roles as they pertain to both sexes. I think there's been a tendency to take a very reductivist view of the work as simply erotic and kind of dismiss that there could be any other concerns involved."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=StackPath |url=https://xtramagazine.com/culture/ms-jones-2-39738 |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=xtramagazine.com|date=27 April 2005 }}</ref>
According to Dodie Bellamy, G. B. Jones "co-opts the male-on-male objectifying gaze of gay erotica and converts it to a female-on-female gaze" and her''Tom Girls'' series of drawings (based on the work of Tom of Finland) are "unapologetic, thrillingly anti-assimilationist."<ref name="bellamy">{{cite journal|url=https://www.frieze.com/article/dodie-bellamy-gb-joness-nasty-female-role-models|title=Dodie Bellamy on G.B. Jones's Nasty Female Role Models|journal=Frieze|author=Dodie Bellamy|author-link=Dodie Bellamy|date=January 9, 2019|issue=200 |access-date=November 28, 2020}}</ref> Jones gives her marginalized female characters a place to reclaim their power. By changing the narrative, Jones's drawings allow viewers to compare the effect of women in those positions of authority versus the men.<ref name=":0" />
==Queercore== Jones coined the term "homocore" with LaBruce to cater to the social mutants of the underground. It later evolved into "queercore" to be more inclusive.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Wilde |first=Christopher |date=May 2006 |title=The Origin of Love |pages=1 |work=Queer Life |url=http://www.holytitclamps.com/QZines-2006-05.pdf |access-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref>
==Exhibition history== Jones has exhibited her art nationally and internationally since the early 1990s, in spaces such as Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus; Participant Inc., New York; Mercer Union, Toronto; The Power Plant, Toronto; Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna; White Columns, New York; AKA Artist Run Space, Winnipeg; Muncher Kunstverein, Munich; and Schwules Museum, Berlin. Her first gallery was Feature Inc. in New York, curated by Hudson, who was the first art dealer to showcase her ''Tom Girls'' series of drawings from 1991 to 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.featureinc.com/exhibs-1991.html |title=Feature Inc. Previous Exhibitions 1991 |work=Feature Inc. |access-date=2014-04-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407080433/http://www.featureinc.com/exhibs-1991.html |archive-date=7 April 2014 |df=dmy }}</ref>
==Filmography== ===Director=== * ''The Troublemakers'', directed by G. B. Jones (1990) * ''The Yo-Yo Gang'', directed by G. B. Jones (1992) * ''The Lollipop Generation'', directed by G. B. Jones (2008)
===Actor=== * ''Fifth Column at the Funnel'', directed by John Porter (1982) * ''Boy, Girl'', directed by Bruce LaBruce (1987) * ''Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacy's Home Movies'', directed by Bruce LaBruce and Candy Parker (1988) * ''Like This'', music video for Fifth Column, directed by Bruce LaBruce and Fifth Column (1990) * ''No Skin Off My Ass'', directed by Bruce LaBruce (1991) * ''Donna'', music video for Fifth Column, directed by Friday Myers (1994) * ''She's Real'', directed by Lucy Thane (1997) * ''I Believe in the Good Of Life'', music video for The Hidden Cameras, directed by Joel Gibb, (2005) * ''She Said Boom: The Story of Fifth Column'', directed by Kevin Hegge, (2012) * ''Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution'', directed by Yony Leyser, (2017]
==See also== * ''J.D.s'' * List of female film and television directors * List of LGBT-related films directed by women
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140319104522/http://www.lexandermag.com/gb-jones-living-life-like-a-car-crash/ "G. B. Jones: Living Life Like a Car Crash"], ''Lexander Magazine'' (28 March 2013)
; Books * Jennifer Camper, ed., ''Juicy Mother'', Soft Skull Press, 2005, {{ISBN|1-932360-70-0}} * Jennifer Camper and Manic D Press, eds., ''Juicy Mother 2: How They Met'', 2007 {{ISBN|978-1-933149-20-2}} * Firoza Elavia, ed., ''Cinematic folds: the furling and unfurling of images'', Pleasure Dome, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-9682115-4-0}} * Marcus Ewert and Mitchell Watkins, eds., ''Ruh Roh'', published by Feature Inc. and Instituting Contemporary Idea, NYC, 1992 * Robin Fisher, ed., ''What's Wrong? Explicit Graphic Interpretations Against Censorship'', Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002, {{ISBN|1-55152-136-9}} * Andrea Juno, ed., ''Dangerous Drawings'', Juno Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-9651042-8-1}} * Selene Kapsaski (edited by Jeremy Richey), ''Welcome to Jonestown: Southern Ontario Gothic'', Art Decades, 2015, {{ISBN|1511568984}} * Robert Kirby and David Kelly, eds., ''Boy Trouble'', Boy Trouble Books, 2004, {{ISBN|0-9748855-0-9}} * Robert Kirby and David Kelly, eds., ''The Book of Boy Trouble 2: Born to Trouble'', Green Candy Press, 2008 {{ISBN|978-1-931160-65-0}} * Andy Paciorek and Katherine Beem, eds, ''Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies'', Wyrd Harvest Press, 2015, {{ISBN|978-1-326-37637-6}} * Leila Pourtavaf, ed., ''Feminismes Electrique''. La Centrale, 2012, {{ISBN|978-2-89091-321-9}} * Spencer, Amy; ''DIY: The Rise Of Lo-Fi'', Marion Boyars Publishers, London, England, 2005 {{ISBN|0-7145-3105-7}} * Scott Treleaven, ''The Salivation Army Black Book'', Printed Matter Inc./Art Metropole, 2006, {{ISBN|0-89439-021-X}}
; G. B. Jones, editor
* ''Double Bill'', edited by Caroline Azar, Jena von Brücker, G. B. Jones, Johnny Noxzema, Rex, Issues 1–5, 1991 to 2001 * ''J.D.s'', edited by Bruce LaBruce and G. B. Jones, Issues 1-7, 1985 to 1991 * ''Hide'', edited by Caroline Azar, Candy Pauker, G. B. Jones, Issues 1-5, 1981 to 1985
==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3DiLQeNe_cWczBxXuvxAlQ G. B. Jones] on YouTube * {{IMDb name|0428091}} * [http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/02/bunny-the-lakers.html Bunny & the Lakers] at ''WFMU'' (February 15, 2010)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, G. B.}} Category:Living people Category:Canadian contemporary artists Category:Canadian experimental filmmakers Category:Canadian women drummers Category:Canadian women guitarists Category:Canadian film actresses Category:Canadian punk rock drummers Category:Canadian punk rock guitarists Category:Canadian women artists Category:Canadian women film directors Category:Canadian lesbian artists Category:Canadian LGBTQ film directors Category:Pop artists Category:Queercore musicians Category:Women experimental filmmakers Category:Actresses from Toronto Category:Artists from Toronto Category:Film directors from Toronto Category:Guitarists from Toronto Category:Fifth Column (band) members Category:Riot grrrl musicians Category:Canadian feminist musicians Category:1965 births Category:Canadian lesbian musicians Category:20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:Canadian LGBTQ singer-songwriters Category:Canadian queer musicians Category:Zinesters Category:Queer women singers