ARTIST FOCUS
Cool Drink, oil on canvas, 36 x 24” Hollyhocks, oil on canvas, 24 x 20"Heroic Quail, oil on canvas, 24 x 18”David Jonason
D
avid Jonason’s work is inspired by
the austere beauty of the American
Southwest and the aesthetics of
cubism and art deco. His love of stark
landscapes began in childhood on family
rock hunting trips to the Mojave and Anza-
Borrego deserts in California. “I love the
desert for its lack of clutter,” he says. “All that
empty space allows you to see the forms with
much more clarity.”
Early in Jonason’s painting career he was
drawn to the volumes of architecture, cubism
and the Taos Society of Artists. Jonason
considers his style to be a fusion of cubism
and realism. He explains, “The severe angular
shapes of the American Southwest are a
perfect expression of this aesthetic that
I love in cubism.”
Jonason paints in oils using gradations
to express form. “I don’t really like a lot of
texture in the paint,” he says. “I want my
works to have the clean, graphic qualities of
travel posters from the 1920s and 1930s.”
Prior to his career in fine art, Jonason
was an accomplished commercial artist. He
was represented in the 1980s by PushPin, a
trendsetting design and illustration agency in
New York. There, he produced illustrations for
Fortune 500 advertising and editorial clients.
In addition to landscapes, Jonason
has painted cacti, birds and skulls for his
upcoming Desert Icons show, held March28 to April 11 at The Marshall Gallery in
Scottsdale, Arizona. On November 8 Manitou
Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will open
the exhibition Southwestern Synergy featuring
Jonason’s work.Want to See More?
http://www.davidjonason.com
Represented by The Marshall Gallery
7106 E. Main Street | Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 970-3111 | http://www.themarshallgallery.com/david.jonason.5@david_ jonason
ARTIST FOCUS