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S T A T E M E N T
My drawing practice involves life sketching and transforming my observations into meticulous graphite works with disrupted figure-ground relationships. I draw subjects from my everyday life to engage concepts of home, memory, and routine. I draw to learn and unlearn -- to engage in the smallest details only to bask in the delights of ambiguity. My ongoing Nausea series blurs the lines between echoes of uncanny figures and dissolving spaces. The drawings are inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre's novel of the same name in which a disassociated narrator describes café patrons as a "warm packet wit some pairs of arms waving around." Underpinned by absurdism, existentialism, and phenomenology, my drawings question the susceptibility of visual perception by embracing the unique way drawings alter presence and meaning through simple shifts of line and tone. B I O
Jonathan Bolton has exhibited work in numerous exhibitions across the United States including Manifest Gallery's DRAWN 2023 in Cincinnati, OH and ArtFields' 2023 and 2024 Competitions. He was recently featured as one of Artisphere's 2025 Emerging Artists. His work is featured in regional and international publications including Manifest Gallery's 15th International Drawing Annual. He earned his BFA from Winthrop University and his MFA from Clemson University. Jonathan currently works out of Oye Studios, an artists' cooperative in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. |