Contact

Personal:
Email: jonathanlisenby@gmail.com
Instagram: @jonathan-lisenby

Omnifold:
Email: director@theomnifold.com
Instagram: @omnifold
Website: www.theomnifold.com

Artist's Statement

I use modern depictions of spirituality and magic as the basis of my visual language to attempt to describe my perfect place of escape and meditation.  The primary subjects of my work are doors and portals, fetish objects and shrines, and representations of water and electricity.  My main sources of inspiration are contemporary escapist media, like sci-fi movies, comic books, and fantasy novels, which use these objects to depict power and the human involvement in the supernatural.  Although I’m heavily influenced by these quick, slick manufactured contemporary media objects, my practice is slow and hands-on, reflecting the traditions of wood carving, painting on canvas, and calligraphy.

I create a fictitious space that quickly shifts between illusory and the concretely material.  I think of these spaces as sets or “play” pieces that forcibly exercise the viewer’s ability to make that perceptual shift.  A suspension of disbelief is necessary to enter into the four-dimensional world my two-dimensional works imply.

My work showcases the psychological and visual interaction of recognizable objects and the abstract mark.  These interactions oscillate between awkward and intuitive, often deconstructing mid-action to highlight the component structure of the mark.  I try to fragment the viewer’s point-of-entry into the narrative of each piece, reinforcing the feeling of simultaneity that comes with personal projection into an image.  The individual objects and the relations of the objects to each other and to the viewer build to create an open form, a variable and sometimes opaque experience.  I often craft these open forms to mimic the structure of simple and classic narrative forms, like the Greek epic or the Zen koan.  This tendency towards the minimal allows my sets to be reducible to the oldest subjects, the landscape and the figure.

Curriculum Vitae

Education
 

2014 - MFA in Studio Art, Concentration: Painting and Drawing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, TN

2007 - BFA in Painting, Washington University in St. Louis, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, St. Louis, MO

Solo Exhibitions
 

2017 - New Settings, Exhibit for WEHO Arts Crawl, Nashville, TN

2010 - Agent Of Mistake, Curated by Dan Carr, Murfreesboro Center For The Arts, Murfreesboro, TN,

2008 - People Empyrean, Open Lot Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO

2008 - Painting The Scene, Art Lofts, St. Louis, MO

2007 - Wrestling With The Black Box, Curated by Philip Slein, Des Lee Gallery, St. Louis, MO

Group Exhibitions
 

2016 - Encore, Curated by Sam Yates and Eric Cagley, Ewing Gallery, Knoxville, TN

2015 - Demo-Graphics, Curated by Sterling Goller-Brown, Nashville, TN,

2014 - Orange2, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL

2013 - Work Friends, Curated by Eleanor Aldritch, K-Space, Knoxville, TN,

2009 - Translation, Curated by Meagan Rust, Open Lot Nashville, Nashville, TN,

2009 - Red Carpet, Curated by Skye Gilkerson, Open Lot Nashville, Nashville, TN

2009 - Art In Open Spaces: Emerging Artists, Curated by Lain York, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN

2009 - Shrine/Installation, Curated by Alex Elmestad, Foundry Art Center, St. Charles, MO

2007 - We’ll Talk More Later, Open Lot Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO

Exhibitions Curated
 

2016 - Nashville Blueprint 2016, Van Gordon Gallery, Tennessee State University

2016 - Claire Stigliani: Friends + Windows, Van Gordon Gallery, Tennessee State University

2015 - Yu Araki: Blue Method, Space For New Media, Tennessee State University

2015 - Dreamhouse: Dreamworld, Van Gordon Gallery, Tennessee State University

2013 - International Show/Tell Annual Media Festival, Knoxville, TN

2011 - Theory Of Everything, Scarritt Bennett Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,TN

2011 - The End Of The World 2011, Open Lot Projects, Nashville, TN

2010 - Concrete Comedy, Open Lot Projects, Nashville, TN

2010 - Session 4, Open Lot Projects, Nashville, TN

2010 - Diet Blood: Meditations On Recent Paintings By Donny Smutz, Open Lot Projects, Nashville, TN

2010 - ART.EDU 2010, Open Lot Projects, Nashville, TN

2009 - ART.EDU 2009, Open Lot Projects, Nashville, TN

2008 - Adam Cruces: El Caballero De La Noche, Open Lot St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2008 - An Associates Degree In Science, Open Lot St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2008 - Gale Davis: People Will Know What Kind Of People You Are, Open Lot St. Louis,     St. Louis, MO

2008 - Contemporary Furniture In Its Natural Habitat, Open Lot St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2006 - Artworks In Residence, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Teaching Experience

2014 - 2016 - Painting & Drawing Faculty, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN

2014 - 2016 - Life Drawing, Instructor, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN

2014 - Intro To Time-Based Media, Instructor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

2013 - Advanced Digital Media/16mm As Art, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

2010 - Conceptual Methods: Abstraction In Painting & Drawing, Instructor, Vanderbilt University Young Scholars Program, Nashville, TN

2009 - Introduction To Painting & Drawing, Instructor, Vanderbilt University Young Scholars Program, Nashville, TN

Administrative Experience
 

2016 - Director and Lead Curator, Omnifold Projects, Nashville, TN

2014 - 2016 - Gallery Director, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN

2009 - 2012 - Director, Open Lot Nashville Projects & Open Lot Nashville Studios, Nashville, TN

2007 - 2009 - Director of Programming, Open Lot, St. Louis, MO

2008 - 2009 - Program Administrator, Everyday Circus/Circus Harmony, St. Louis, MO

Guest Lectures
 

2018 - Underground Main: Cultivating Local Arts, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN

2010 - DIY & Alternative Art Spaces, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

2008 - Disinterested Interest in Process, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Awards & Commissions
 

2009 - Nashville Scene, Best of Nashville, Best New Gallery for Open Lot Nashville

2007 - St. Louis RiverFront Times Best Gallery for Open Lot St. Louis

2006 - “Hank Williams’ Ghost” Video, performed by Darrell Scott, Director, CMG Nashville, Nashville, TN

2003 - Bromeyer Foundation Award, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2002 - The Magic Flute Set Design, Nashville Opera Association, Nashville, TN