Jonathan Velazquez’s work – both on paper, canvas and in performance – explores the possibilities of celebrity, with the razor like observations of a chameleon.
He creates work focusing and transmuting the obsessive qualities of pop music fandom into art objects and performances. Velasquez crafts his numerous artistic personas from musicians and bands that he connects with on various levels – his slate of performers include Michael Jackson as well as on Espinosa Paz, Los Tigres and Daddy Yankee.
His drawings, painting and sculptures are built from private code, a densely layered text often in Spanish and English, that soon engulfs and blends information about the performers.
// Jonathan’s available work //
recent exhibition history
Reinventing History // NIAD Art Center 2018
Cyrano // organized By Em Kettner NIAD Art Center 2018
Can Did // organized By Julio Rodriguez NIAD Art Center 2018
All Of The Light // organized by Gina Borg NIAD Art Center 2017
The Witnesses // organized by Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker NIAD Art Center 2017
Virgins Vigining // organized by Micah Wood NIAD Art Center 2017
The Fourth Dimension // organized by Marja Galpin van der Loo NIAD Art Center 2017
Digital Art: The Power of the Pixel // Berkeley Central Arts Passage 2017
Handbills // NIAD Art Center 2017
Creature Feature // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2017
Manila Institure Presents Video Screening At Rachel Uffner Gallery // organized by Rafael Delacruz Rachel Uffner Gallery New York 2017
Overloaded: Contemporary Art, Folk Art And Unique Objects // organized By Phil Linhares NIAD Art Center 2016
Immediate Family // NIAD Art Center 2016
Cities In Mind // organized by Kathleen King NIAD Art Center 2016
Snap! Photographs From NIAD // NIAD Art Center 2016
Hands and Pants 6 // Faultline Artspace Oakland 2016
Adventure! // organized by Scott MacLeod NIAD Art Center 2015
Absence of Deliberate Silence // organized by Lacey Haslam NIAD Art Center 2015
Assemble: A NIAD Art Center Project With Nina Zurier // organized by Nina Zurier NIAD Art Center 2015
Making Friends // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2015
Musiquarium // NIAD Art Center 2015
Ebony + Ivory // organized by Katie Johnson NIAD Art Center 2014
Avatar // organized by Justine Frischmann NIAD Art Center 2014
Serenade: Lists, Poems And Missives // NIAD Art Center 2013
Championship Vinyl // NIAD Art Center 2013
A Light That Never Goes Out: Continuing Traditions In Abstraction // NIAD Art Center 2013
Mud, Honey // NIAD Art Center 2013
Superduperultracool Shoppe // organized by Lisa Solomon NIAD ART Center 2013
Color and Form // Jack Fischer Gallery San Francisco 2013
You Are Here // organized by Robert Wuilfe NIAD Art Center 2013
The Variety Show // Factory Outlet Gallery Mokulumne Hill 2012
…at cafes, public spaces and similar venues
Where Have All The People Gone 2? // Walnut Creek Community Center 2018
Long Term Exhibition // organized by Katie Johnson Rep Nancy Skinner’s Office Suite Oakland 2017
We’re Here // organized by Peter Cavagnaro Yali’s Café Oxford Street Berkeley 2016
New Photographs From Jonathan Velazquez // Yali’s Cafe Stanley Hall Berkeley 2016
Joyful Tidings Of The Golden Future Time // organized by Jon Shibata Yali’s Café Berkeley 2016
We Can Do It! // Hurwich Library, Alliant University San Francisco 2015