Reginald O’Neal

Florida Contemporary 2025-26

Reginald O’Neal (b. United States, 1992). Too Close (Hornist), 2025. Oil on linen, 24 x 16 inches. Courtesy of Spinello Projects.

Florida Contemporary, an annual exhibition organized by Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum, features artists with diverse artistic interests and backgrounds who hail from a variety of locations throughout Florida. The artists selected for the 13th edition of the exhibition are Mally Khorasantchi, Naples; Boy Kong, Orlando; Jillian Mayer, Miami; and Reginald O’Neal, Miami.

On exhibition

October 18 – June 28, 2026
Located in the Newell Gallery and Harris Room, Hayes Hall

The paintings and large-scale sculpture in this exhibition are from Reginald O’Neal’s acclaimed Jazz Figurines series. First exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2022, the series has continued to evolve and is presented here in its first comprehensive museum exhibition.

O’Neal first encountered a set of these ceramic figurines depicting jazz musicians while visiting a gift shop in New Orleans. Made in the mid-20th century, the figures’ bright red jackets and white pants reflect historical uniforms of servitude. Their soulless, blank expressions and silently raised instruments prompted O’Neal to connect the representational and performative intentions of the trinkets with, more broadly, the commodification and exploitation of Blackness, across art, music, spirituality and knowledge.

Light, composition, tone and scale render these diminutive figurines with dramatic expression, imbuing them with unsettling complexities while demonstrating his virtuosic talents as a painter.

O’Neal is a third-generation resident of Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood in Miami with a rich musical history. During segregation, it provided enthusiastic audiences and welcoming accommodations for world-class Black musicians who were barred from staying in hotels in the Miami neighborhoods where they performed. After their concerts, musicians such as Count Basie, Nina Simone and Ray Charles were known to travel across the Miami Beach causeway to perform after-hours shows in Overtown.

O’Neal has also created significant works of sculpture as part of the Jazz Figurines series. Included in this exhibition is O’Neal’s monumental sculpture The Saxophonist (2023).

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About the Artist

The gripping oil paintings of Reginald O’Neal (b. 1992) depict narrative scenes influenced by his experience growing up in Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood in Miami. Reflecting on the complexities of the Black experience in his own community, O’Neal bases his works on original photographs and stories, both personal and collective. His work, characterized by a subdued color palette and a somber atmosphere—often addresses themes such as violence, marginalization and loss. O’Neal’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States, and is held in the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, the Rubell Museum (Miami and Washington, D.C.), NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Oolite Arts (Miami), Jorge Pérez’s El Espacio 23 (Miami), the Hort Family Collection (New York City), the Green Family Art Foundation (Dallas), Marquez Art Projects (Miami), the Mimi Dusselier & Bernard Soens Foundation (Brussels, Belgium), and the Jasteka Foundation (Jeffersonville, Indiana). O’Neal received the South Florida Cultural Consortium award in 2019; was nominated for the Florida Prize in Contemporary Art in 2023; and has participated in residencies in Spain, Japan, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and Bed-Stuy Residency. He has held solo exhibitions at galleries and museums including Spinello Projects, Vielmetter Los Angeles, and the Rubell Museum in Miami. His work has also been featured in group exhibitions at the Orlando Museum of Art, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, The Bass, ICA Miami, EL Espacio 23, the Rubell Museum in Washington, D.C., and Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (St. Augustine, Florida); he has participated in Art Basel Miami Beach (2022, 2023). O’Neal lives in Miami and is represented by Spinello Projects.

Selected Works