#jtsw

I was good at it by just stencil the world from Dresden, Germany

My life is in a state of transition. I just moved into my friend’s place, Jonathan Wallraven. He has an awesome tumblr @ jtsw

About to finish a new painting and then my goal is to start 6 more all at once. If I can successfully do this I’ll finally be kicking it back into a gear worth staying in.

I haven’t been around as much as I’ve wanted. Things have been down for me lately, and I’m writing a little piece that will divulge a few reasons why that has been.

Keep your heart dear friends and your chin up. Even when things appear darkest there is always light fighting to reach your sight.

→  This is an experiment.  ←

By E Dyer “You were sick, now we’re both sick” a  phrase I've come to always think of when looking at work by Jonathan Tyler Skeleton Wallraven, an artist living in San Francisco (from Tennessee). Why is everyone becoming ill, we may never know, but the plague is spreading fast and hopefully soon the world will be full of these beautiful sumi-ink lines. I'm not sure if I became infected after viewing Wallraven's creation or if the work itself is imbued with a magic beyond comprehension (1).

On Saturday, February 23, 2013 Chinatown in San Francisco held its famous New Year parade; on the same day, the Chinese Culture Center Gallery opened Moment for Ink (2). Included in the show are four wall installations titled, I want to Hurt you and Not in a Good way But Also in a Good Way. They are all done in Sumi-Ink. The name itself racks my mind with questions of it’s absurdity; it reminds me of Gedi Sibony’s title My arms are tied behind my other arms, or George Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld’s rants about nothing. 

Many of Wallraven’s works are distorted by the projector and transparencies that are used during the installation process. The work in Moment for Ink has a graphic, clean, comic quality (3). It looks as if he created a huge wood cut print and stamped the wall with it. 

In his self-portrait, an eye peers through the artist’s hands which cover his face — I wonder if he is trying to hide from us or if he is trying to hide himself from some disturbing event. The portraits around him look like they could either be shielding their gaze from terror or involved in a fun game of peekaboo (4). 

I see Jonathan’s work as the contorted connections we attempt to make with other individuals. We never know who they are, but we long to know them better. We simplify their stories and chronologize them — that way they are easier to understand. However, there is always another perspective you can’t see...

 http://jonathanwallraven.com/

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  (1) The Truth Is Out There. A town where everyone knows everyone and nothing is what it seems.

(2) located on the third floor of the Hilton in San Francisco’s Financial District

(3) That’s not to say his older work doesn't hold some of these attributes. The Spiral, which can be seen here, contains similar elements to the work shown at the Chinese Cultural Center. The Spiral contains more drips, physical distortions, and doesn’t have as much variety in the line weight.