(En) Exhibition article | Jonni Cheatwood [Toeing the Line]

Jonni Cheatwood, a Brazilian-American Artist, makes art from memories with textiles and figurative abstract paintings. Using various mix-materials to express his core memories of his life, faceless or face-abstracted paintings and stitched fabric canvas have been ‘therapeutic activities’ according to the artist. 

Cheatwood is a self-taught artist who grew up in a creative family. He went with the flow by trying out something he was passion about, somewhere the love was leading to, and non-stop learning how to sew and paint by himself. It was unintentional for Cheatwood to become an abstract painter, but his creative flow and process led him to his core memories and the central question of: ‘who am I’.  Forming memories is not simple, as Cheatwood’s paintings it is layered with mixed feelings and interwoven with forgotten and remembered history. As Pierre Bonnard said, ‘the artist we may have imagined does a great deal of looking around him and within him.’ Everything begins together in Jonni Cheatwood’s practice. By moving around from canvas-to-canvas Cheatwood says, ‘some of the bigger stories are coming out… and it is abstract in my mind.’ 

There is no such thing as perfection or, right or wrong when it comes to memories; it is filled with colours, shapes, textures, scents, and sounds. This is what we can see from Jonni Cheatwood’s newest works which can be seen as an exploration of emotional intensity and self-discovery. Stitched fabrics on canvas and layers of colourful paints are based on family photos and his memories of the sensation of the time in the photographs.

Family Portraits 

Family is one of Cheatwood’s most essential elements in the painting. For Cheatwood, images of his family were about telling his and his family’s story – growing up in a multicultural background and “It is grieving memories” Cheatwood said. Especially for this exhibition, the artist referenced family photos passed down from his parents and used them to deconstruct his memories and emotions hidden behind the scenes.  Different patterns of fabrics are sewn into the canvas as the paintings' interior or exterior, giving us an optical illusion effect. These puzzled images show what he remembers as a kid and how it is remembered today. It speaks to the audience, ‘how can we make art from memories?

Core memories that he brought out are footage of a mixture of feelings, childhood suppressed memories of the time in Brazil and ancient memories. This footage that transports Cheatwood back to that moment. Photos represent a certain time and space, whiles Cheatwood captures it from endless perspectives, through different colours and figures. These practices bring the viewer to a much more personal and vulnerable level. 

Condensed Face

Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. It is a set of conversational tools in which movements convey the emotional states of an individual to observers. However, in Cheatwood’s work, emotions are condensed to the face in an abstract way. It is now one of the signposts in Cheatwood’s work. Whoever it is, wherever the characters are, we can see a human figure's colourful face in the scene. It was during the covid pandemic when a full canvas of abstract graffiti moved into a single face. Throughout the process of reconfiguring his earlier works, marks, squiggles and doodles are reconstructed inside the face.

Emotionally condensed faces change the vibe of the pieces. Cheatwood captures all sorts of feelings – happy, sad, nostalgic, love – a plethora of memories. We can neither read what is behind the mystery faces nor capture certain emotions butut what Cheatwood said is, ‘I want to keep it fun’ and want it to work as a vehicle to escape a lot of thoughts and feelings.’ His abstract works cover all the senses, which is too delicate to bring it out, but it is not hiding behind the scenes; it is a process of getting into it and being able to do it. 

Reinterpreting his memories and feelings not just into paint but sewing and stitching them on the fabrics are not a coincidence for Cheatwood.  He keeps subliming unexpected textures and shapes, wandering between interior and exterior space by sewing canvases with found textiles. 

Therapy

‘I used to use painting as an escape, as kind of like a form of therapy.’ 

Painting has been a method of expressing Cheatwood’s complicated emotions that are internally settled on his thoughts and experiences. Stitching fabrics that would not go together and creating harmony is the process that Cheatwood enjoyed. It is undoubtedly a process of reinterpreting and reconfiguring fragments of memories into one piece whilst connecting the past and the present. As fabrics are delicate and have different textures and patterns that require different brush strokes and types of paint, it represents the layers of thoughts that change every time he sees the photos. 

Even though it is very personal to Cheatwood itself and his family, the exciting thing is that we can relate to it. He does not push the audience to have a certain idea or feeling about it. He instead gives the viewer an opportunity to think and feel as they want to with the intention that there will be a point where he and you will meet up. A collaboration of sorts reflected with the titles of his works written by his close friends. Bringing out, narrating and re-interpreting old memories is a reaction of missing who he was in the past and trying to go back and capture that essence of him. Whilst memories are a central theme of Cheatwood’s work, he does not solely rely on them. His memories are but of one of many layers that are created in the process. Ideas and thoughts are explored through the sewing of canvas and layers of acrylic paint, culminating in something ‘new’. This process of cutting and mix-matching the canvas is an act of identity, where some patters of fabric are purposely placed in the background of paintings. 

Titled <Toeing the Line>, Jonni Cheatwood brings together family, friends, and the audience. Cheatwood’s close friends' names, the unique labels of his works, and family photos are the subject matter, whiles whoever views it can interpret it as they feel. Very personal stories become a story of you and us.

• (10 March - 9 April), Gallery ALL Shanghai

 Gallery ALL, Exhibition article

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aznG-fh3JjAkLUAY3dqv0Q (Chinese)