street roots
6
July 20 2012
‘There's
room for
everything'
Me and You
By Leo Rhodes
Memories come
Memories go
Some memories need fixing
Other memories fix me
During the hard and rough times
The memories we made together
Is what gets me through
BY COLE MERKEL
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
onathan Cornelison is not a typical
street artist. He seamlessly blurs the
boundaries between traditional art,
chedelic imagery, painting, drawing,
graffiti and, when he can, teaching. At 26
years old, Jonathan has already produced an
impressive body of work with a unique style
that incorporates the natural environment,
the supernatural and the universal realities
of human existence: death, life, love.
“I’d like to break down all the barriers,”
says Jonathan. “I want to blend street art
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Answers to puzzles on page 15
and fine art into one thing to a point where
people don’t even realize what they’re
looking at. Instead of everything being
categorized, I think art should be free-
flowing. It doesn’t matter to me; I’ll look at
fine masters, then I’ll look at graffiti art,
then psychedelic art, and to me it’s all art.
There’s room for everything.”
In terms of producing media, Jonathan
tends to be pragmatic based on what’s
available in his situation. “I love painting,
but I realized it all comes back to drawing,”
he says. “If you have a firm foundation in
drawing, you’ve got good hand control and
your motor skills get so fine, to the point
where you’re going to be able to become a
good painter, too. I draw so much because
it’s always there and it’s always convenient
and I can do it anywhere. I can’t really do
that with paint, I can’t soak my brushes on
the street.”
Looking closely at Jonathan’s art is like
stepping into the space of a dream —
sometimes a nightmare: a giant lizard subtly
changes color across a sprawling canvas of
desert, serving as the focal point of light in
the night sky; a reaper points its bony
finger, jagged as a stalactite toward an
excavated grave; an illuminati eye cries
blood from the top of a floating pyramid.
The subtle spaces Jonathan creates allow
the viewer to take a glimpse into a deeper
part of him he doesn’t always let onto.
“When I’m drawing on the street, people
can look me in the eye and they know
exactly who I am, and they get to look at my
feelings and all these things inside of me,”
says Jonathan. “If people take the time to
flip through an artist’s whole portfolio then
they’ve kind of just gotten a taste of that
person’s soul. That’s why I think street art
is so important, because it’s really
P H O T O BY COLE M ER KEL
accessible to everybody and it breaks down
the barrier between artist and viewer.”
Jonathan’s favorite artists are M.C.
Escher and Salvador Dali and he shares a
birthday with Vincent Van Gogh. Certainly
surrealism is an inspiration in his work.
Jonathan extracts his other major
inspiration from the natural environment of
his home state of Arizona, primarily the
desert around Flagstaff. Cliffs, cacti and the
constellations of Arizona’s night sky are
common themes in his work.
One of Jonathan’s dreams is to become
an art teacher to share the gift of self-
expression that he has cultivated in order to
inspire a new generation. “The deepest
reason I do it is because I love kids,” he
says, alluding to his kind, compassionate
core that might sometimes be obstructed by
viewing the universe of his work.
Last winter, Jonathan took a break from
Portland, where he had been a Street Roots
vendor since the early summer, to try his
shot at being an artist in Tempe, the
uproarious hometown of the University of
Arizona. On the city’s downtown strip, he
found himself constantly protecting his art
from being stepped on by drunken fraternity
members and scantily clad sorority sisters.
He returned to Portland for a breath of
fresh air.
“People in Arizona don’t appreciate art
half as much as the people I’ve met in
Oregon,” says Jonathan. “It’s a difference of
culture, a difference of opinion and a
difference of historical ties that shape each
place. Arizona is in turmoil right now with
SB 1070 and Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They’re
basically trying to divide and conquer-aud
turn everyone against each other right now.
They’re stirring the pot and it doesn’t help
when it’s 120 degrees; it’s literally boiling in
Arizona.”
When selling Street Roots, Jonathan often
draws with his newspapers displayed. “I’ll
try to make a concrete connection between
the fact that art is important and so is being
knowledgeable about your community. I’ll
tell them to support the arts with a small
donation or support their local paper.” He
says that selling Street Roots coupled with
creating art has helped him become less
shy. He typically sells at the downtown Rite
Aid and on Alberta Street during Last
Thursdays.
The distillation of Jonathan’s art
philosophy is similar to the self
transformation he has undergone in his
moves between Arizona and Portland: “You
have to destroy things to create things
sometimes, and that can be healthy,” he
says. “I don’t think art should be stagnant
ever. As an artist, I don’t think you should
get comfortable ever. You should always
push the envelope and always try to do
some strange stuff because the only
constant we have that’s guaranteed is
change.”
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Dependable, mature person interested in
assisting ethical and safe person(s) with
house sitting, pet care, plant care, yard
work, laundry, organizational projects, etc.
Please call 503-228-5657 and leave your
contact information, preferably a name and
email address. References available upon
request.
Please report any errors to our managing
editor, Joanne Zuhl, at 503-228-5657, or
write to joanne@streetroots.org
3035 S.E. Division • Portland, OR 97202
503.234.7499