These paintings are about intersections: of ideas, cultures, belief systems and meanings. Employing the materials, process, and vocabulary of graffiti, the work combines the codes of expressionism with a variety of other imagery such as the delicate patterns of Japanese flower and bird painting, the religious iconography of Chinese Buddhism, and the thick-line style of vintage print advertising in pairings of seemingly unrelated elements. The images in the work relate to each other in the same way that graffiti murals form meaning- through layers. A name emblazoned on a wall intersects and interacts with its environment by crossing physical boundaries. These, too, try to blur the boundaries between graffiti and painting, street art and fine art, words that mean and images that represent. In the work, frenetic, circular movement and the energy of the colors attempt to grow beyond the boundaries of the canvas or paper. They are like snapshots of something larger: constantly expanding and continually increasing the suggestion of possibility.


Jonathan was born in Manhattan, raised in Arizona, and resides in the Mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles. Along the way he got a degree in Semiotics and a degree in Visual Art from Brown University in Providence. An artist since he was a small child, he also teaches history at an all girl school.