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. And he’s released an EP of his Spanish-language ballads.

Jonathan’s 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 //

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recent exhibition history

A Kind of Movement // organized by Jay Wehnert Portland Art And Learning Studios 2019 

L’Amérique N’Existe Pas // organized by Matthieu Morin Art Et Marges Museum Brussels 2019

Forests And Clearings // organized By Wayne Smith NIAD Art Center April 2019

Books, Man // organized by Mike Monteiro NIAD Art Center 2019

Redefining Contemporary Art // organized by Courtney Eldridge Depot Steamboat Springs 2019

Exquisite Corpse: CG x CE x NIAD // NIAD Art Center 2018

It’s Complicated // organized by Kathleen King NIAD Art Center 2018

Prints: An Overview NIAD Art Center 2018

Talking Heads // organized by Susan Alexander NIAD Art Center 2018

The Handmade // Rock Paper Scissors Collective Oakland 2018

The Genre Leaps // organized by Margaret Tedesco NIAD Art Center 2018

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

special projects

Hands & Pants, collaboration with neurotypical artist John Casey 2015