How can art history and the contemporary iconoclasm fuse into new compositions?
Which images arise when ones that have been formerly made are being displaced out of their time? Is there a visual unity to be found? A balance?
These questions form the basis of Jonas’s work.
In search of an answer, he calls upon recognizable motifs. Thus, symbols of transiency return, as does the vanitas motif. The body is often present as well, as a bridge between art history and the modern-day capitalized ideas about beauty. Furthermore, flowers are also a constantly recurring theme. Seen through the idea of the image as a stage, they melt into paintings and collages.
These icons, however, burst out of their prevalent meaning. They no longer reference as they did before. They unleash a game, one that obscures and hides at the same time, makes old symbols unfamiliar or anew and lets materiality, image and meaning contrast one another. The spectator has to look again each time.
In Jonas’s recent work the exuberant colors and images are immersed in a kind of darkness, which grants them a certain introversion. It appears as if the work turns inwards, announces another or prepares for metamorphosis.
Out of the tension between the graphic perfection and the human, imperfect hand, between the body and its cultus, the old and the new, new images arise time and time again.
education
Teacher certification in the arts: School of Arts KASK, Ghent, 2015-2017
Master of Fine Arts: School of Arts KASK, Ghent, 2014-2016
Bachelor of Arts, Painting: School of Arts KASK, Ghent, 2011-2014
– Minor in Graphics , 2012-2013
– Minor in Textile Design Art, 2013-2014
exhibitions
2019
The Hermit Crab & the Gastropod, Group exhibition, Belgium art and design fair, Floraliënhal, Gent, BE
KVDM October, Solo exhibition, xyz-lounge, Zebrastraat, Ghent, BE.
Summertime, Group exhibition, Lieve Lambrecht Galerie en beeldentuin, Merendree, BE.
Inter omnia saga, Solo exhibition, BLANCO, NUCLEO, Ghent, BE.
The soft side, Group exhibition, Sint-Amanduskapel, CAMPO SANTO, Ghent, BE.
2018
Sensuality, Group exhibition, Kunst in Kortrijk Galerie, Courtray, BE.
Zomergasten, Group exhibition, Lieve Lambrecht Galerie en beeldentuin, Meredree, BE.
Stimulans '18, Group exhibition, paardenstallen, BUBOX, Courtray, BE.
Presentation, Solo exhibition, KASKcafe, School of Arts KASK, Ghent, BE.
Weerklank, Group exhibition, Wuivend Riet, NTGent Café, Ghent, BE.
2017
Inhabitant body, Group exhibition, Schipperskapel, Bruges, BE.
Fill up that back seat., Group exhibition, OPEL garage Regniers, Ghent, BE.
Kapellekesbaan, Group exhibition, Sint-Amanduskerk, O.L. Vrouw bezoekingskerk, Meulebeke, BE.
MASCULINE DOMINATION, old ideas, new ideas, Solo exhibition, NTGent cafe, Ghent, BE.
Just Married, Group exhibition, BLANCO, NUCLEO, Ghent, BE.
2016
Masters Salon Painting, Group exhibition, Anciens Etablissements Vanderborght, Brussels, BE.
Masters Salon, Group exhibition, Lange Zaal, Royal Academy of Fine arts, Antwerp, BE.
Blauw, Group exhibition, Kunstacademie Tielt, BE.
Graduation Show KASK, Group exhibition, KIOSK & Kunsttoren, KASK, Ghent, BE.
Artagon, Group exhibition, Passage de Retz, Paris, FR.
Tumult in Ghent #4, Group exhibition, KERK and Zwarte zaal, KASK, Ghent, BE.
The Saint, the Fox and their Dictionary, Group exhibition, Rio De Janeiro, BR.
2015
iD-eST, Sint-Amanduskerk Bekegem, Group exhibition, Bekegem, BE.
De Biënnale van België, Group exhibition, In de Ruimte, Ghent, BE
7+1, Tis Gank, Group exhibition, Kunstacademie Tielt, BE.
2014
Kaai1, Group exhibition, Kaai1, Courtray, BE.
NOW YOU ARE HERE, Group exhibition, NVT galerie, Ghent, BE.
Schilderkunst vs Schilderkunst, Group exhibition, NVT galerie, Ghent, BE.
Vlak Land, Group exhibition, Zwarte zaal, KASK, Ghent, BE.
2013
Concordia Concours, Group exhibition, PAK, Gistel, BE.
Vuurdoop, Group exhibition, Kunsttoren KASK, Ghent, BE.
2011
TRANSform, Group exhibition, De Bond, Bruges, BE.
prices
2018
Stimulans '18, Selected, paardenstallen, BUBOX, Courtray, BE.
2016
Masters Salon, Selected, Lange Zaal, Royal Academy of Fine arts, Antwerp BE.
Artagon, Selected, Passage de Retz, Paris, FR.
2013
Concordia Concours, 2nd place, PAK, Gistel, BE.