jonathan thunder review
artist reveiw
In this post I am reviewing the work of a native artist, Jonathan Thunder. I decided to review him for two reasons. one, he is a successful native artist with interesting style and two, he is actually a close family friend. He is a painter, animator and illustrator. he recently won an award for his animation walk in dreams. he has done collaboration poetry films with Heid Erdrich including "undead faerie goes well with India pale ale". he has also worked with wiigwas press to make ojibwe language films like "How the Bear got a Short Tail". He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics from the Art Institutes International Minnesota and is currently living in duluth minnesota.
His artwork has common themes of animals or humans with animal features,sometimes with cartoonish attributes and proportions. each one of his works is a still shot from a larger story.he uses his unique style to show various things about him including his native heritage In his own words "My work explores personal themes of identity and internal dialogue through story and characters. I depict expressive characters whose emotions and thoughts manifest viscerally in their physical form. The bodies of my subjects often appear fragmented, animalistic, or partially obscured. My art acts as the scrapbook recording an evolving identity. Through my subjects, I can exaggerate the villains and heroes that make up my self-image or the worldview as seen through my lens. My cultural identity infuses with my identity as an urban dweller. These paintings are vignettes by nature, a glimpse at a moment in a story that neither begins nor ends on the canvas."-his artist bio.
Walk in Dreams
His distinctive style is evident in all his art by the use of colour and shape, giving things unexpected texture and making them pop. The warner bros cartoon esque style in some of them adds to the mood evoked by the paintings and adds to a sort of surreal feeling some of them have.
Undead Faerie Goes Well With India Pale Ale
Is the name of a collaboration animation with the poet (my mom) Heid Erdrich. It is an animation of a poem by the same name. It incorporates 3D animation and live action video along with his style of animation. The morphing portrait along with the oil and tentacle combine with the words of the poem to create a ominous and eerie mood. the repeated themes of consumption and cannibalisim paired with names of resources like copper and oil send the message of environmental destruction and depletion of energy /resources. this is accentuated by the black oily substance that the portrait is on. focus is brought to the words by having them appear onscreen in brighter colours and in a curved pattern.
That animation is a good example of how thunder communicates feeling and intent through his art and animations. His incorporation of his native background into much of his work and his collaberations with other native artists speak to me as a fellow native american also hes just a cool guy, ive met him.
In this post I am reviewing the work of a native artist, Jonathan Thunder. I decided to review him for two reasons. one, he is a successful native artist with interesting style and two, he is actually a close family friend. He is a painter, animator and illustrator. he recently won an award for his animation walk in dreams. he has done collaboration poetry films with Heid Erdrich including "undead faerie goes well with India pale ale". he has also worked with wiigwas press to make ojibwe language films like "How the Bear got a Short Tail". He has attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics from the Art Institutes International Minnesota and is currently living in duluth minnesota.
His artwork has common themes of animals or humans with animal features,sometimes with cartoonish attributes and proportions. each one of his works is a still shot from a larger story.he uses his unique style to show various things about him including his native heritage In his own words "My work explores personal themes of identity and internal dialogue through story and characters. I depict expressive characters whose emotions and thoughts manifest viscerally in their physical form. The bodies of my subjects often appear fragmented, animalistic, or partially obscured. My art acts as the scrapbook recording an evolving identity. Through my subjects, I can exaggerate the villains and heroes that make up my self-image or the worldview as seen through my lens. My cultural identity infuses with my identity as an urban dweller. These paintings are vignettes by nature, a glimpse at a moment in a story that neither begins nor ends on the canvas."-his artist bio.
Walk in Dreams
His distinctive style is evident in all his art by the use of colour and shape, giving things unexpected texture and making them pop. The warner bros cartoon esque style in some of them adds to the mood evoked by the paintings and adds to a sort of surreal feeling some of them have.
Undead Faerie Goes Well With India Pale Ale
Is the name of a collaboration animation with the poet (my mom) Heid Erdrich. It is an animation of a poem by the same name. It incorporates 3D animation and live action video along with his style of animation. The morphing portrait along with the oil and tentacle combine with the words of the poem to create a ominous and eerie mood. the repeated themes of consumption and cannibalisim paired with names of resources like copper and oil send the message of environmental destruction and depletion of energy /resources. this is accentuated by the black oily substance that the portrait is on. focus is brought to the words by having them appear onscreen in brighter colours and in a curved pattern.
That animation is a good example of how thunder communicates feeling and intent through his art and animations. His incorporation of his native background into much of his work and his collaberations with other native artists speak to me as a fellow native american also hes just a cool guy, ive met him.
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