Introducing Jonathan Ouisse

Upon discovering Jonathan’s paintings, his artworks, one may first have a rearward movement ; a step backwards for a « better view ».

Firstly, this is because the majority of his paintings are very big ; drawing back helps better grasp them. Secondly, because they are so dense and full, with colors and details. In order to wrap your mind around their « bulk », you need to take a few seconds, to step back…from their aesthetics and stories they tell.

Each of Jonathan’s paintings deal with subject matters that lead us to questioning, often an introspection. They all speak of us : men, women, children, at the heart of our contemporary society.

And where Jonathan proves to be, in my point of view, extremely gifted and very promising, is in his capacity to perfectly combine his universe and his aesthetics, one sublimating the other, and, to top it all off, with an unparalleled technique.

Before going any further, and to help clue you in, Jonathan began thriving on Renaissance paintings at a very young age, during numerous family vacations to Florence, Venice and Verona…

A living museum in which he was able to admire huge frescos depicting religion, catholicism and greco roman mythologie. These paintings whose dramaturgy and lyrical scenes are « construed » from a throng of details (some well-hidden), the composition of those details, and a multitude of characters…Such paintings in which light and shadow (the claroscuro), combined with the intensity of colors, ultimately sanctify the scene and the characters.

As seen below : Leonardo da Vinci’s « Last Supper », Michelangelo’s « Creation of Adam », Veronese’s « Wedding at Cana » or even Titian’s « Venus of Urbino »…

As I’m sure you’ve understood : this inevitably influenced Jonathan, his vision, his taste…

His paintings have their format, theatrics and lyrical staging, perhaps even an inspiration from Sacred codes and mysticism. The colors and ciphers within Jonathan’s paintings are resolutely contemporary, of his/our era, firmly influenced by hip-hop culture, but they are just as intense.

And instead of apostles knelt down before Jesus, or gods, angels, demons or Venus, it is us, our society and our worships, demons, our inner demons, the victims and wars of all sorts…and their consequences. This is Jonathan’s universe : a critical perhaps even satirical view of our society upon which he wants us to ponder, through aesthetics, intense colors and contrast and by means of a dramaturgical staging stemming from the Great Renaissance paintings but made contemporary through the color palette and the characters…

It took him several years to get there. Technically and humanly, his paintings constructed themselves simultaneously with his own construction, as the man and father he is today. His early childhood during which he began toying with oil paint ; an adolescence throughout which he fiddled with fine arts followed by studies at the Angers Beaux Arts school (whereupon his work gained recognition and critique), and a graphic design school which he pursued professionally, concurrently with his painting.

He has never stopped painting and exploring. It is only when he and his wife decided to move to Hungary, her native country, that Jonathan decided to dedicate his life entirely to his craft. He admits that the birth of his first child was the trigger : transforming and enriching his universe. First, by going further into the responsible commitment of his paintings, all the while exploring and exploiting the innocence of childhood and its codes, thereupon making his analysis of our world more sensitive, moving, more impactful. Animals began to appear, in animal totems, symbolically powerful ; animals victimized by man, or, on the contrary, animals overpowering man.

It is only later, around 2014/2015, that this childlike universe gave way to the « mystical » universe he deflects today, in which animals have remained, naturally. Naturally, because of what they represent and their echo to the environment, of nature and its preservation ; all have become an engagement for the artist, in addition to the political and media satire.