Jona8than Green Art and Other Things

"I don't need no make up
I got real scars
I got hair on my chest
I look good without a shirt"

Tom Waits, Going Out West

It's the Christmas holidays. I'm enjoying myself, relaxing as much as I can. Eating well. Resting a lot. Just generally taking it easy. Reading. Practicing anatomy drawing. Really trying to get the body structure down, improve my figure drawing and drawing in general.

The idleness gets to me. I shouldn't ever be not working. Feels odd. I was hoping when I came home to start thinking of new imagery to pursue, new Arctic imagery. There are still some ideas left in my sketchbook. Was also hoping to straighten out why I'm doing that imagery, that work. Seems like a lot behind it. Lot of different threads. The starting thread, the inspiration changed. Changed, as I guess it is suppose to.
It's funny, I've never really wrote any of it out. Always talked about it the most general terms. Mueller always said it can be personal, but no one needs to know. They need to know a little, I do need a statement for the show. Something. Something for grants even.

The writing about art thing, by artists. Scrap that, was going to write about how writing about art by artists is annoying and only a recently imposed thing. But really, it isn't a bad thing. Just me trying to avoid it. I really got to work on it. Maybe some writing in a notebook first.

Still needs some more revising...

My work deals with the ideas of death and loss, through the use of objects, space, and narrative. I use objects that have contain small memories and history to them, and by placing them in created and often neutral spaces, to convey the larger ideas of mortality and loss. I use the medium of drawing, for it can show the sensitively and vulnerabilities of being human. It is like a slow motion version of thought, for the process of drawing can be imprecise, and uncertain. Drawing captures this by the power of it being an unmediated impression of the artists hand and mark on the surface.

My research is very intuitive and habitual, a part of my daily routine. My research is engaged in areas of art, philosophy, gender issues, sexuality, sociology, literature and an increased interest in thanatology. Death and loss factor in my research in ideas dealing with how mortality and death are dealt with in western cultures, as in issues of confronting and overcoming. Ideas on desire and death have also become an idea of note as of late, the idea that death and desire are linked.

These drawings are a continuation of the drawings from last semester, albeit indirectly, a refocusing on the topics at hand. They led me through my research to a passage from Bill Viola

“I want to go to a place that’s seems like it’s at the end of the world. A vantage point from which one can stand and peer out in to the void—the world beyond…there is nothing to lean on. No references…

You finally realize that the void is yourself. It is like some huge mirror for your mind. Clear and uncluttered, it is the opposite of our urban distractive spaces. Out here, the unbound mind can run free. Imagination reigns. Space becomes a projection screen. Inside becomes outside. You can see what you are.”

This was an inspiration point for these drawings, to use the paper as a huge mirror for my mind. The emptiness of the paper would focus the attention on the objects, and create the mood associated with the idea.

The drawings are a collection of objects, and I am extrapolating from Christian Boltanski’s idea of ‘small memory’. For Christian Boltanski ‘small memory’, is memory about little things; trivia, jokes, memories about the little things in life. [ I’ll get the exact quote for this and footnote] The objects in these drawings have memory, but only about small things, small events. These objects however can be used, with their small memories to create larger meaning and ideas through the drawings of them.

The tie clip is a response to an event in my life; the drawing brings the words meditated passion to mind. I choose this specific object because it had personal meaning to me, but I felt it could communicate to others as well by drawing it. I drew this object existing in a neutral space, an empty space, as well as the other drawings. Luc Tuymans and Toba Khedoori both use large amounts of space in their works to a feeling of isolation and emptiness in their works, Khedoori in particular uses it to create a sense of placeless-ness and acute sense of isolation. The neutral space in my drawings work the same way, however they are not totally devoid of a referent like Khedoori’s or to an extent Tuymans, my drawings have a horizon line as a indicator of space and distance.

The tie clip is an object with social and cultural meaning to it, it is an object of restraint but yet also one of flourish. The ability of restraint is also seen as part of the flourish, the ability to restrain one’s self. The ties with its phallic connections play in to this.

Drawn in a realistic manner, from life, and surrounded it by a large mass of charcoal, the item has been marked with tape so it would not interfere with the drawing of the clip. The clip is surrounded with this greyness, to create a surface around the clip that is indeterminate and imposing, to equate it with death. The tie clip exists without the tie, so there is loss and inability to function. The desire for sex is often equated for the desire of death, for death holds the promise of release from desire.

The finger trap drawing is that of a finger trap in the empty or neutral space, hovering in the space and the drawing is split through the middle by the seam of the paper. Perspective and the horizon lines exist in the top of the drawing.

This object of the finger trap is a trick device, where you are trapped by your fingers, and when you try to haul or pull yourself out of, you only get more trapped, the trap tightens. The only way out is to push further in, and let go. The finger trap is made of pieces of bamboo, braided together; bamboo is often seen as a symbol of longevity as well as the twisting and twining in of braiding. The finger trap is a joke, not intended as a restraining device or such, but rather to be an example that one must think differently to escape a situation.

The split in this drawing is to change the perception of the drawing, an interruption of the braid, the linking of the finger trap. To escape the finger trap, one must push their fingers to the centre. If the finger trap is split in the drawing, can one escape when there is no centre to push to? Is one really trapped? So by giving the split, one can see the finger trap as complete or not.

The drawing of the hammer head is drawn in the upper half of the sheet, to place it close to the horizon line and give it a good expense of space.

The hammer head is a found object, was found with no handle. In a way it is decapitated, and remain useless. The head is still good, but it needs a new body, handle to work. I invested it with small, localized narrative through the use of the shadow; the shadow alludes to the missing handle, like the shadow of the handle had been burned in to the image, still there. The hammer head is scratched, and pitted from the activity of work. It is not the shiny new hammer of a store, but one with a history. By the look of the hammer, the lack of the handle and the shadow, along with its position on its side, all work to give the impression of the hammer head being dead.
The horizon line is included in all of the drawings, dividing the empty space up and giving ideas of distance and space. However this is all relative, for the space could be essentially a table top or a soccer field, there is nothing in the drawing to give accurate scale. This relates back to the Bill Viola quote stated above. The horizon line is also used for its placement of the vanishing points, which indicate where all things must go. An idea of Nietzsche also figures in to my including of the horizon line.

The tie clip is a response to an event in my life; the drawing bring the words meditated passion to mind. I choose this specific object because it had personal meaning to me, but I felt it could communicate to others as well by drawing it. I drew this object existing in a neutral space, perhaps more of an empty space to me. I divided this space with the use of a horizon line, and perspective lines.

The tie clip is an object with social and cultural meaning to it, it is an object of restraint but yet also one of flourish. The ability of restraint is also seen as part of the flourish, the ability to restrain one’s self. The ties with its phallic connections play in to this.

Drawn in a realistic manner, from life, and surrounded it by a large mass of charcoal, the item has been marked with tape so it would not interfere with the drawing of the clip. The clip is surrounded with this greyness, to create a surface around the clip that is indeterminate and imposing, to equate it with death. The tie clip exists without the tie, so there is loss and inability to function. The desire for death is often equated for the desire of sex, and

I have the object with perspective lines going from it to two vanishing points, the perspective lines do not match up to the object and are done so really to just acknowledge the vanishing points.

The finger trap drawing is that of a finger trap in the empty or neutral space, hovering in the space and the drawing is split through the middle by the seam of the paper. Perspective and the horizon lines exist in the top of the drawing.

This object of the finger trap is a trick device, where you are trapped by your fingers, and when you try to haul or pull yourself out of, you only get more trapped, the trap tightens. The only way out is to push further in, and let go. The finger trap is made of pieces of bamboo, braided together; bamboo is often seen as a symbol of longevity. The split acts in this case as

The finger trap is a joke, not intended as a restraining device or such. It is an example of how one cannot escape something through

The next drawing is that of welding goggles, surrounded by space and the goggles are split by the connection of the paper. On one side of the paper split, the lens is cracked. There is a slight shadow in front of the lens.

This object has industrial context in that it is used for protection from the bright light of metal cutting. They protect you from seeing the light. One of the lenses is cracked, which would allow some light to get in. This object also appears in post apocalyptic media often as a fashion object. What I was trying to do with the paper split here is show the object in it’s entirely, but showing a shift in the perception of it. By being broken on one side, and on the other side of the split, the perception of the object and its meaning is changed.

The drawing of the hammer head is drawn in the upper half of the sheet, with a long light grey shadow coming from it downwards, and perspective lines leading to a vanishing point.

The hammer head is a found object, was found with no handles. In a way it is decapitated, and remain useless. All it takes is a new handle, but till then it just lays there. Invest it with small, localized narrative through the use of the shadow and the perspective lines.

The drawing of the arctic explorers (incomplete) is that of a drawing in space, horizon and perspective lines in the space around it. This image is that of five explorers at what they thought was the North Pole, from the Peary Expedition. The drawing is erased; some of the explorers are erased as well as some of their surroundings.

This image is a found image, that I used for it reminded me a quote from the book The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart. To paraphrase, a character mentioned his “own interior Arctic”. I wonder whether it was easier to cross the real Arctic or one’s own, do you think you reach your destination when like Peary’s you are a ways off still. The drawing of the image shows loss through the selective erasure of the elements in it.

I approach my drawings, by finding an object or found imagery, and through drawing process to invest it with meaning. The objects and imagery have personal connections to me, whether they be a part of my life, were a part, or come from an area of interest.

Just trying to get some stuff online, instead of on different computers and on jump drives. Co-ordination and synchronization are differcult at time.
This is myprint proposal for the St.Michael's Scholarship


Print Proposal

My print proposal consists of a series of ten prints done in lithography and intaglio media. Six prints of this series will be of an intimate scale, using the smaller stones and smaller intaglio plates. The rest of the prints will be large scale, through using prints off the smaller stones and combining them as parts to make one large size. The other large scale prints will be engaging St. Michael's larger stones along with large intaglio print done by utilizing aluminum etching. The support will be paper and canvas. The interest in the larger prints is because of the impact that scale can have, and will contrast against the intimacy of the smaller prints. Lithography and intaglio are chosen because of their mark making abilities, and their proximity to drawing for me.

The prints will be continuing the exploration of the rocket as an image to communicate ideas of mortality, violence and exploration. The rocket images will be based in landscape, that make use of dystopian and apocalyptic elements, modernist symbols of progress, pop culture, television, comic books and graphic novels, the figure relation in space. My work is informed by artists such as Ed Pien, William Kentridge, Marcel Dzama, and Toba Khedoori, along with a background of science fiction authors and their book covers, as well as graphic novels and comic books. This subject has started in this year of my studies through drawings on paper, as well as some studies in print and I would like to continue them in print.

I, as a previous intern only this summer at the shop know the value of St. Michael’s. The co-op program between Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and St. Michaels’s has already provided great benefit to me through learning the maintenance and running of a print shop, creation of art, and through interacting with the visiting artists. The Don Wright Scholarship would be another great asset to me, as it would enable me to transition from a student to a professional practice by enabling me to pursue art after college. It will give me a chance to hone my technical skills, develop ideas, to create a body of work, to learn from the visiting artists, and networking opportunities. Mike Connolly and John McDonald even taught me how to do my first lithograph, which I am currently studying in school and showing little tips I learned from them. To receive the Don Wright Scholarship would be a great benefit to me as listed above, and I would love to work at the shop again.

Jonathan Green was born two weeks late and seeing out of only one eye. A unique start to the world and this essay; it is these little details that figure in to Jonathan’s work as well.[Jonathan prefers to be refer to as Jonathan, sans surname] He was born in Labrador City, but moved to Carbonear when he was very young. When asked how growing up in Carbonear has affected his work, Jonathan is a little hesitant, replying there was not a whole lot there for him. He said he read a lot, that he “…just devoured books really, all kinds. A lot of fiction, some non-fiction. He really got in to science fiction and fantasy, but read everything else as well. The majority of my life has been reading, all through teenage years as well.” When asked about his writing as a child and later as a young adult, Jonathan is even more hesitant, “I did write some narratives, some stories, I just never ever finished them.”

Jonathan’s art consists of drawing, paintings, and printmaking. If asked that to describe his materials in one word, he said the word would be "simple". However, there seem to be an element of sensuality in the materials for him, a certain quality of the materials.

His drawings are a variety of media on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite or Prismacolour markers, that allow for tonal use. Charcoal is a rarity in his works, used sparingly. The drawings are usually black and grey; there is absence of colour.

His support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but usually a range of smooth paper; works best with his graphite and marker drawings, and usually white. Though Jonathan has said he sometimes uses BFK cream or grey if “…feeling especially jolly.”

The paintings are on stretched canvas usually, and sometimes wood. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. He paints with oil paint with other media like pencil, oil stick, and spray paint. The palette range is very different than his drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. There seems to be a distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range, but Jonathan could not offer any idea why.

Jonathan said he would describe his research methods as “…very intuitive and wide arcing, covering a lot of ground.” The library and the internet are his prime sources, for imagery and information. “Whether at the library or trawling the internet, I am just plugged in to it. I don’t see it as researching, it’s just part of my lifestyle really, a habit.” Beyond researching his subject matter, Jonathan says he researches a lot of different artists and different periods of art history, trying to get an understanding of different artists through biography, critical essays, and of course, their work. He has said he finds other artists very inspiring as well, their different approaches to their art making. Contemporary culture plays a role in his art as well, so a milieu of magazines can often be found around. “I am really just addicted to information.” Jonathan said.

Jonathan takes a sip of his Coke and list off numerous artists that have influenced him, but three in particular are Ed Pien, Marcel Dzama and Alberto Giacometti.

Ed Pien had just had an art exhibition at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell Art Gallery when Jonathan was in first year, and Jonathan recalls it quite fondly, along with the symposium on drawing that went with it. It help him realized that drawing can be relevant and can be many things; this was later enforced by other artists and his classes. There was also a mysterious to Pien’s work that inspired Jonathan, this “channeling of the mind’s thoughts and ideas. This drawing from within.” he describes it. His 1 minute drawings were also revealing, Jonathan said he has often had a problem of overanalyzing everything and over thinking to the point that the actual creation is slow to get done. Pien’s one minutes drawings showed Jonathan that you could let the “drawing do the thinking for you.”

Marcel Dzama who was introduced in his first year also enforced these ideas, along with his use of ambiguous narratives and use of space in to Jonathan’s drawings. These ambiguous narratives were interesting to Jonathan, for he saw it as a way to use his own narrative in regards to art making.

Alberto Giacometti influence came a little later to Jonathan than the previous artists, in that Jonathan recall ignoring Giacometti in his first and second year; in the third year both the sculptures and two-dimensional works struck him. The use of line, gesture, shape, texture, the use of figure in his works, spatial concerns, a little bit of existentialism all brought ideas to Jonathan’s work.

Jonathan says that the drawing and painting are very intuitive after the initial research of gathering information and source material. “I’ll pin my references up around my area, but after a while they become too distracting and it would almost seem like the art only starts when I start ignoring them. They become more like starting points to the creation.” He says he starts and finishes a drawing in a sitting while the paintings start off as sketches but always transform away from the original drawing. Jonathan quotes William Kentridge on drawing:

“Drawing for me is about fluidity. There may be a vague sense of what you're going to draw but things occur during the process that may modify, consolidate or shed doubts on what you know. So drawing is a testing of ideas: a slow-motion version of thought. It does not arrive instantly like a photograph. The uncertain and imprecise way of constructing a drawing is sometimes a model of how to construct meaning. What ends in clarity does not begin that way.” *

For Jonathan the construction of his art is through taking source ideas and thoughts, distilling it through his head, and then working at it. It is an intimacy and immediateness that seems to fuel his art making.

The attraction of a subject matter is hard to trace in Jonathan, for it would seem he really does not want to tell you. He will list off a whole barrage of ideas why to use them, but none of them seem true. Ask for the truth, and he might go off on how the truth has many perspectives, and so forth.

The Skull drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. Jonathan works in an additive/ subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil.

His series of skull drawings are exploring an iconography that has been a part of human history, and has especially been included in art history. Skulls are a loaded icon; they are full of different meanings and appropriated for many types of meaning. Jonathan says he has been interested in skulls for many years and has researched the use of them in culture.

It would seem skulls have always popped up from time to time in Jonathan’s life and art practice. One can recall Jonathan’s “goth” subculture period from junior high to just pre-Grenfell as one long instance. Upon questioning about this period or why he was attracted to this subculture, Jonathan lists “rebellion” as a possible answer and says “There has always been an interest in this object for me; and of course, with everyone, was a symbol of death. This meaning has changed over the years as my knowledge of different cultures, meaning, and appropriation has expanded. It still contains the reference of death to me, but through my drawing of the skulls it is done to show that the skull in various states of distortion.” Jonathan accomplishes this by an addition and subtraction method to create an ephermal-ness to the skull, to reflect the varying states of meaning to the skull. Jonathan stands between the archetype of the image and the floating “skull” sign of the postmodern time.

The Rocket works, drawings and paintings that are composed of multiple drawings on paper done in graphite and marker, and oil paintings. The drawings and paintings differ in palette, and technique, are the same in subject: explosions, clouds, rockets, barren landscapes, etc.

His “Rocket” drawings and paintings are a semiotic medley of different signs and meanings. They are images that are based in landscape, that make use of dystopian and apocalyptic elements, modernist symbols of progress, pop culture, television, comic books and graphic novels, the figure relation in space. Jonathan brings up the artist Peter Doig and how he spoke about his paintings as "I don't think of my paintings as being at all realistic. I think of them as being derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of you.” They are fictional but with a stake in reality it would seem; there is nothing in the paintings that does not exist in this world.

It is from the above that the topic of comics and graphic novels follow in to his work, they were part of his reading experience growing up and he still reads them. He notes that some of his works are definitely referrals back to the genre of comics, their use of scale, light and shadow, the use of realism and the fantastical.

The internet while a tool of research also seems to factor in to Jonathan’s work as well. “The media saturation is one thing that influences me, this bombardment of images every day. The signs that float about, that have no meaning until one attaches one.” Jonathan said.

The figure seem to always be in Jonathan’s work, which Jonathan replies that sometimes he “uses the figure just for scale, but other times the figure is the protagonist or antagonist, not quite sure which yet.” Is the figure necessary? Jonathan replied “yes, I need a figure there. I fear a drawing or painting without them.”

There is also that curious narrative in the works, that at times feels figure driven but there is no beginning, no start, and neither ending. There are just moments in the drawings and paintings. When asked about where the drawings and paintings are going, Jonathan shrugs his shoulders and says “I really don’t know. I’m still very much exploring in those drawings and painting. I suppose an ending will come, I don’t know. I just feel a need to keep at them.”

To the question how did these drawings and paintings come about, Jonathan pauses for a while and thinks. “I had been drawing different things all summer while at St. Michael’s Printshop, and a Navy vessel came in, and had some missiles on the side. From missiles I went to rockets, and they just seemed like the perfect metaphor for the idea I had in my head. Rockets, as objects have many different uses. They are a perfect representation for what I was going for.” Jonathan aimed to create a dystopian world in which a figure explores in an almost existentialistic sense, with the weight of technology.

Jonathan Green was born two weeks late and seeing out of only one eye. A unique start to the world and this essay; it is these little details that figure in to Jonathan’s work as well. He was born in Labrador City, but moved to Carbonear when he was very young. When asked how growing up in Carbonear has affected his work, Jonathan is a little hesitant, replying there was not a whole lot there for him. He said he read a lot, that he “…just devoured books really, all kinds. A lot of fiction, some non. He really got in to science fiction and fantasy, but read everything else as well. The majority of my life has been reading, all through teenage years as well.” When asked about his writing as a child and later as a young adult, Jonathan is even more hesitant, “I did write some narratives, some stories, I just never ever finished them.”

The landscape is another part of Jonathan’s works,

Jonathan’s art consists of drawing, paintings, and printmaking. If asked that to describe his materials in one word, he said the word would be "simple". However there seem to be an element of sensuality in the materials for him, a certain quality of the materials.

His drawings are a variety of media on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite or Prismacolour markers, that allow for tonal use. Charcoal is a rarity in his works, used sparingly. The drawings are almost always black and grey, there is absence of colour.

His support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but usually a range of smooth paper; works best with his graphite and marker drawings, and usually white. Though Jonathan has said he sometimes uses BFK cream or grey if “…feeling especially jolly.”

The paintings are on stretched canvas usually, and sometimes wood. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. He paints with oil paint with other media like pencil, oil stick, and spray paint. The palette range is very different than his drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. There seems to be a distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range, but Jonathan could not offer any idea why.

Jonathan said he would describe his research methods as “…very intuitive and wide arcing, covering a lot of ground.” The library and the internet are his prime sources, for imagery and information. “Whether at the library or trawling the internet, I am just plugged in to it. I don’t see it as researching, it’s just part of my lifestyle really, a habit.” Beyond researching his subject matter, Jonathan says he researches a lot of different artists and different periods of art history, trying to get an understanding of different artists through biography, critical essays, and of course, their work. He has said he finds other artists very inspiring as well, their different approaches to art making. Contemporary culture plays a role in his art as well, so a milieu of magazines can often be found around. “I am really just addicted to information.” Jonathan said.

Jonathan takes a sip of his Coke and list off numerous artists that have influenced him, but three in particular are Ed Pien, Marcel Dzama and Alberto Giacometti.

Ed Pien had just had an art exhibition at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell Art Gallery when Jonathan was in first year, and Jonathan recalls it quite fondly, along with the symposium on drawing that went with it. It help him realized that drawing can be relevant and can be many things; this was later enforced by other artists and his classes. There was also a mysterious to Pien’s work that inspired Jonathan, this “channeling of the mind’s thoughts and ideas. This drawing from within.” he describes it. His 1 minute drawings were also revealing, Jonathan said he has often had a problem of overanalyzing everything and over thinking to the point that the actual creation is slow to get done. Pien’s one minutes drawings showed Jonathan that you can let the “drawing do the thinking for you.”

Marcel Dzama who was also introduced in his first year also enforced these ideas, along with his use of ambiguous narratives and use of space in to Jonathan’s drawings. These ambiguous narratives were interesting to Jonathan, for he saw it as a way to use his own narrative in regards to art making.

Alberto Giacometti influence came a little later to Jonathan than the previous artists, in that Jonathan recall ignoring Giacometti in his first and second year, but was struck by him in the third year. The use of line, gesture, the use of figure in his works, spatial concerns, a little bit of existentialism all brought ideas to my head and to my own work.

Jonathan says that the drawing and painting are very intuitive after the initial research of gathering information and source material. “I’ll pin my references up around my area, but after a while they become too distracting and it would almost seem like the art only starts when I start ignoring them. They become more like starting points to the creation.” He says he starts and finishes a drawing in a sitting while the paintings start off as sketches but always transform away from the original drawing. Jonathan brings up a quote William Kentridge has said in an interview about drawing as this

“Drawing for me is about fluidity. There may be a vague sense of what you're going to draw but things occur during the process that may modify, consolidate or shed doubts on what you know. So drawing is a testing of ideas: a slow-motion version of thought. It does not arrive instantly like a photograph. The uncertain and imprecise way of constructing a drawing is sometimes a model of how to construct meaning. What ends in clarity does not begin that way.”

For Jonathan the construction of his art is through taking source ideas and thoughts, distilling it through his head, and then working at it. It is an intimacy and immediateness that seems to fuel his art making.

The Skull drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. I work in an additive/ subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil; whereas my Rocket [Rocket just for state of reference] drawings are marker, pen, and graphite on paper and the sizes of these vary.

The attraction of a subject matter is hard to trace in Jonathan, for it would seem he really does not want to tell you. He will list off a whole barrage of ideas why to use them, but none of them seem true. Ask for the truth, and he might go off on how the truth has many perspectives, and so forth.

His series of skull drawings are exploring an iconography that has been a part of human history, and has especially been included in art history. Skulls are a loaded icon; they are full of different meanings and have been appropriated for many types of meaning. Jonathan says he has been interested in skulls for many years and has researched the use of them in culture.

It would seem skulls have always popped up from time to time in Jonathan’s life and art practice. One can recall Jonathan’s “goth” subculture period from junior high to just pre-Grenfell as one long instance. Upon questioning about this period or why he was attracted to this subculture, Jonathan lists “rebellion” as a possible answer and says “There has always been an interest in this object for me; and of course, with everyone, was a symbol of death. This meaning has changed over the years as my knowledge has expanded of different cultures, meaning, and appropriation. It still contains the reference of death to me, but through my drawing of the skulls it is done to show that the skull in various states of distortion.” Jonathan accomplishes this by an addition and subtraction method to create an ephermal-ness to the skull, to reflect the varying states of meaning to the skull.

His “rocket” drawings and paintings are a semiotic medley of different signs and meanings. They are images that are based in landscape, that make use of dystopian and apocalyptic elements, modernist symbols of progress, pop culture, cinema, literature, the figure relation in space. Jonathan brings up the artist Peter Doig and how he spoke about his paintings as "I don't think of my paintings as being at all realistic. I think of them as being derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of you.” They are fictional but with a stake in reality it would seem; there is nothing in the paintings that does not exist in this world.
The figure seem to always be in Jonathan’s work, which Jonathan replies that sometimes he “uses the figure just for scale, but other times the figure is the protagonist or antagonist, not quite sure which yet.” Is the figure necessary? Jonathan replied “yes, I need a figure there. I fear a drawing or painting without them.”

There is also that curious narrative in the works, that at times feels figure driven but there is no beginning, no start, and neither ending. There are just moments in the drawings and paintings. When asked about where the drawings and paintings are going, Jonathan shrugs his shoulders and says “I really don’t know. I’m still very much exploring in those drawings and painting. I suppose an ending will come, I don’t know. I just feel a need to keep at them.”

To the question how did these drawings and paintings come about, Jonathan pauses for a while and thinks. “I had been drawing different things all summer while at St. Michael’s Printshop, and a Navy vessel came in, and had some missiles on the side. From missiles I went to rockets, and they just seemed like the perfect metaphor for the idea I had in my head. They are a perfect representation for what I was going for”








The painting start off usually as a sketch, drawn and redrawn till it feels right compositionally. Then it is drawn on the canvas, freehand, the grid does not hold any appeal to me. I would consider that I paint very directly, very confidently (ADD PERIOD)

The intaglio etchings are of an average size to me, though some may consider them large. They are similar to the drawing in that there is an absence of colour, and the support is white, again that starkness. They are created using the full range of intaglio techniques, and while printmaking is definitely more process based, they do not differ (COMMA) to me (COMMA) too (OMIT "too") much from my drawings.

Jonathan Green was born two weeks late and seeing out of only one eye. A unique start to the world and this essay; such beginnings set the mood, setting, context, etc. of the essay. Or sometimes it is just an interesting detail.

Jonathan’s art consists of drawing, paintings, and printmaking. If asked that to describe my materials in one word, the word would be "simple". The materials are chosen for their simplicity, and the small sensuality that I enjoy in them.

My drawings are a variety of media on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite or Prismacolour markers for they are a high quality marker that allow me to work tonally. Charcoal is never forgotten though, the mat black is used sparingly. I usually stick to black or grey tones, rarely any colour used in my drawing.

The support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but I do go through a range. I prefer smooth paper; I find it works best with my drawing methods in graphite and marker, and usually whites, sometimes BFK cream or grey if feeling especially jolly.

The Skull drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. I work in an additive/subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil; whereas my Rocket [Rocket just for state of reference] drawings are marker, pen, and graphite on paper and the sizes of these vary.

The paintings are on stretched canvas usually, and sometimes wood. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. Oil paint is what I use, with other media sometimes used like pencil, oil stick, and spray paint. I would not call myself a mixed media painter though, does not seem a need to make that distinction. The palette range is very different than my drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. I am unsure of the distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range as of yet.

The painting start off usually as a sketch, drawn and redrawn till it feels right compositionally. Then it is drawn on the canvas, freehand, the grid does not hold any appeal to me. I would consider that I paint very directly, very confidently

The intaglio etchings are of an average size to me, though some may consider them large. They are similar to the drawing in that there is an absence of colour, and the support is white, again that starkness. They are created using the full range of intaglio techniques, and while printmaking is definitely more process based, they do not differ to me too much from my drawings.

My research methods are very intuitive and wide arcing, covering a lot of ground. The library and the internet are my prime sources, for imagery and the information on the subject matter. I research a lot of different artists and different periods of art history, trying to get an understanding of the artist through biography, critical essays, and of course, their work. From there I will research other artists of the genre, tracing their influences, contemporary thought of the day, etc. Contemporary culture plays a role in my art as well, so magazines and the internet are sources for information.

It is hard to narrow down the number of artists that have influenced me over the years, and that currently influence me; it is kind of like the Paris run way. Who is good for this season? There are always the ones that stay from year to year, the classics perhaps, the ones that have had the greatest impact on my upbringing. So my short list would be:

Alberto Giacometti
Francisco Goya
Raymond Pettibon
Ed Pein
Royal Art Lodge/ Marcel Dzama
Wayne Thiebaud
Wim Delvoyle

So it follows from here to literate how these artists influence my art making, and in particular, this semester’s body of work.

The week has been an interesting one, busy and distractions galore.

I have been painting, drawing, reading, and obviously not writing...

Thursday I was sitting in Brewed Awakening with Jordan, just after he got off work and I spent money on unnecessary things. Enjoying a hot chocolate [ best hot chocolate in Newfoundland is found there] and perusing a Taschen "Art Now" book. In it the artist Peter Doig is featured; a Scottish/Canadian/Trindad artist, who is known for this interesting landscapes. I am not a huge fan of his work, they don't do it for me, or at least the reproductions don't.

He did say this "I don't think of my paintings as being at all realistic. I think of them as being derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of you."

It is not one of those wonderful epigrams that can be debated endlessly, but struck a chord with me, for obviously my paintings have a sense of reality to them, but they are definitely more from my head. I will say they are not surrealist, but rather constructed to fit certain subject matter and formal considerations.

I think at times, or rather, in honesty the majority of the time, terribly conscious of the subject matter. In that I think about what I am painting, what is is suppose to be, suppose to look like, I never get to the surface, to just the surface. Lucien Freud said "Mustn't be indulged to the subject matter. I'm so conscious that that is a recipe for bad art"

I think from that I understand why my drawings are seen as more confident, more stronger than my other work. In my drawings, the imagery matters to me, but doesn't control the drawings. The drawings is just done, to be a good drawing. I use the line more easily, tones, everything is just done.

Painting seems different for some reason. Despite my experience with painting, I can not get the same execution of my drawings in it. There is some block there. I have been changing my painting process more, to mixing up large quantities of paint, working more wet on wet, using paint stick, etc. Something just isn't clicking yet. Maybe I have to bust out a lot more paintings. Smaller perhaps, and lots of them?

It is an interesting question to ask what are your influences in art, it is a question asked I suppose to find out more about your art through comparison of your influences. Of course, your influences change over time, as your range of other artists and their works expand. When writing about ones influences, one always mentions the artists that have had a positive influence on your art. Do not the art that you hate also make an influence on you? As in "I hope to never make something like that". I wonder if that does not have the biggest effect on me, for there is a lot of crap out there I don't want to replicate.

It was dark as pitch this morning, which really just throws my day off. I don't like waking up in the dark, for to me, it means go back to bed. Still very grey out, reconsidering ever going to the Great North with 20 hour darkness, might just ruin me. Haha.

Had a studio visit with Pao Quang Yeh today, he is a officer with the Canadian Council of the Arts as well as being a practicing artist. We only had 15 minutes really, for more people wanted a studio visit with him than the previous artists.

Pao is a pretty insightful artist, he asked some hard and penetrating questions to me about my artwork, and in doing so, revealed that I might not have the actual reasoning for why I'm doing the stuff I am doing figured out yet. Which, I'll be honest, I don't; nor did I feel prepared today for some reason for some of those questions. Lack of alertness really, really ought to sleep better.

Those are not excuses or defenses against some of what he asked me. One thing he focused on, was the idea that I was not speaking with my own voice. That I was not sure of some of my reasoning, and that I was doing things that conflicted with my intentions. I should be honest with who I am, and where I am from, should not be apologetic with anything. Going to talk the talk, got to walk the walk. He cut under my personality to something a little inner, caught me off guard. Be damned if that happens again.
My skulls drawings were a sort of contention, in that he was not getting the intentions of what I wanted the skulls to be in the artwork; which goes back to my unsureness of the intentions of course. The mark making could be improved however, and there was advice to approach them as portraits not just renderings.

He didn't feel my painting, the current one in progress was working either. In that I didn't seem committed to it yet, even in the under painting. I am unsure of what he meant by that, and I neglected to ask more about that. I do have to get in to a bit more, if thats what he meant. Just got to bust in to it. He asked about combining my painting and drawing together. Said look at Ed Pien's work. I will say one thing, shouldn't mention artists you admire right off in a meeting. haha.

He liked my smaller drawings a bit more, the ones I do very quickly. They're small little sketches on some BFK paper, done with markers and pen work. They are nice, but I saw them as something more preparatory to my art. I had planned to do one, a small sketch of a rocket, as a bigger drawing. About 7ft by 4ft. He recommended doing more of them, in the small size, but many of them, hundreds and install them together;to think about what that would say. Interesting proposition, and one I have considered before. It just doesn't excite me the same way a large drawing does.

Was an interesting conversation, something to think about. Especially on how I communicate, in short time periods for instances and of course my art making. Does kind of lights a fire though

To describe my materials in one word, the word would be "simple". The materials are chosen for their simplicity, and the small sensuality that I enjoy in them.

My drawings are graphite or charcoal on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite. Charcoal is never forgotten though, the mat black is used sparingly. I always stick to black or grey tones, there is no colour in my media choice. The support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but I do go through a range. I prefer smooth paper, I find it works best with my adding and subtracting, and usually whites, sometimes BFK cream or grey if feeling especially jolly. That is the extent though, I like the purity of black marks on white. The starkness perhaps.
The drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. I work in an additive/subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil.

The paintings are on stretched canvas, though wood is not ruled out. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. Oil paint is what I use, with other media sometimes used like pencil, oil stick, spray paint. I would not call myself a mixed media painter though, does not seem a need to make that distinction. The palette range is very different than my drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. I am unsure of the distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range as of yet.
The painting do start off usually as a sketch, drawn and redrawn till it feels right compositionally. Then it is drawn on the canvas, freehand, the grid doe not hold any appeal to me. Then light washes, undercoats and darks are applied, sometimes glazed, usually alla prima; due to time constraints.I have been introducing other mark making ways in to my painting, but still always feels like an oil painting to me.

The intaglio etchings are of an average size to myself, though some may consider them large. They are similar to the drawing in that there is an absence of colour, and the support is white, again that starkness. Created either on zinc or copper plate, not a big difference to me except in some technical factors.
They are created using the full range of intaglio techniques, and while printmaking is definitely more process based, they do not differ to me too much from my drawings. They seem of the same sort.

The subject matter, sources and influence, need some more time to digest.
Write some more later.