JONATHAN ESPINOZA
b.1998, Chicago IL

"Merging traditional oil techniques with the visual language of pixel art and early video games, these paintings are built from fragments of my increasingly distant memories of childhood. I return to these video games I once wandered through, treating them not as entertainment; but as landscapes of identity and places where entire chapters of my youth are stored. Pixel by pixel like a hidden archive. These worlds were private sanctuaries that quietly shaped a generation; weaving joy, dread, and longing into our sense of self. 

 

I have learned to find inspiration in this seemingly universal melancholy."

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Jonathan Espinoza is a painter working and living in Chicago. He received his BFA from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 2020. Having graduated at the peak of the pandemic and followed by isolation, his current work is a result of self reflection, experimentation, and the unknown. His work has been featured in exhibitions, publications, and has assisted in multiple murals in the Midwest.