Savannah artist Jim Cone has presented a $20,000 check to the Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute at Memorial University Medical Center.

Cone donated 50 percent of his profits from his first public fine art exhibition, which was held at 24e Design Co. on Broughton Street featuring drawings, paintings, sculptures and mixed media pieces.

ACI provides cancer screening, diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, support services and long-term follow-up for cancer patients. Cone was diagnosed with throat cancer but has been found cancer-free after treatments at the ACI.

“Overcoming my recent battle with cancer gave me a second chance to explore my creative passion, so I wanted to use this new energy to give other cancer patients the same chance,” said Cone.

Cone, a retired Georgia Power employee, has been creating art for more than 40 years.

Ruel Joyner, owner of 24e Design Co., has known Cone for a number of years called Cone’s work a pure form of passion and said he was honored to showcase the work.

“Jim has painted for pleasure for over four decades. He started his artistic works in his spare time while working a full-time job at Georgia Power, and after his cancer, he really focused on his talents," Joyner said. “Dr. Guy Petruzzelli and the professional staff at Memorial gave Cone a new lease on life and presented him with a new creative chapter in his life after cancer.”

At the exhibit, between 100 and 150 pieces were unveiled, including “Tybee Nudes” and “Street People.”

In his distinctive style, and with vibrant colors, Cone pushes cubism forward. Considered to be the first abstract style of modern art, Cubist artists try to piece together fragments from different vantage points into one painting. With the spirit of inclusion, one can see the incorporation of cubism in almost all of Cone’s artwork. The bold expression of color often separates and defines Cone’s cubist works from those cubist works by others like Picasso and Braque.