Artist Statement

Recently, I was sifting through old Polaroid photos from my Navy days. The images were faded and from a time before digital photos. These old photos from a disposable medium are my only physical connection to some of these friends and times in my life. The images bring feelings of nostalgia and the importance of my place in this world.

Portrait painting, in contrast to polaroids, is searching for a similar connection to immortality both historically and symbolically. The portrait is a visual representation of an individual capturing their likeness and personality for generations.

My goal is to explore the eternal and the visceral by painting narratives of my emotional connection to friends who entered my life and the memories I will keep of them long after they have left. My work aims to establish a connection between people, fading memory, and mortality.

Bio

Jonathan is a born a raised New Yorker. Drawing early on and throughout his life even during his six year hiatus in the Navy serving aboard Submarines and the first Gulf war. The Navy exposed him not only the world outside of New York but to art history beyond that of his early New York graffiti art scene. Upon completion of his enlistment and his strong work ethic he went on to study fine arts, focusing on painting, drawing and sculpture and a minor in Art History at the University of Missouri. His desire not only to study technique but the history that has influenced western art had been relevant throughout his career. After graduation in 1998 Jonathan became the father of three children. While not one to limit himself to social norms became a stay at home dad to support his wife’s military career and tend to the his first sons special needs. Jonathan’s work kept progressing receiving 2011 best in show at the annual Yellow Barn Glen Echo gallery, portrait commission at Walter Reed Naval Medical Center, gallery representation and having multiple mural commissions. In 2021 he received his MFA at American university and has begun teaching. This has cultivated an artist who brings a depth to his work that is both visually and mentally engaging.