Jonathan Waters
“For several years in the 1970's, I lived and worked on a small Coastal freighter over in Jersey City and Staten Island. I found the ship in Canada and brought it to New York to use as living and studio space. The ship was painted red, black and tan and at 160’ I was in way over my head. I eventually sold it and moved away holding on to the navigation charts of the vessels' travels, carrying freight around the world.
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This recent series of sculptures of formed and welded steel and paint reflects my continuing interest in the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi, a celebration of the world’s imperfections, embracing the wear and tear of time and use on objects and surfaces.
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The sculptures’ rust, flaking paint, and frayed edges reference entropy and metamorphosis, the inevitable road leading to dust and the implications of these conditions. However the objects are about more than these ideas, as viewers will bring their own interpretations to them, and are meant for contemplation and reflection ......Jonathan Waters 2018
My previous series includes steel sculptures and collage. The collages incorporate the backs of these nautical charts. Color is informed by the memory of the ship and harbor. Titles of the work reference the places visited by the vessels' trade. The collages are spatial visually and pursue a common sensibility with the sculptures, eluding to a sense of place, activating the space around the artwork. The surfaces of both the sculpture and the collages speak to history and time and the record of their making. These are tidbits of space and time, past and present, light and dark, in and out, fragile in paper . . . forever in steel."
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Waters received his MFA from Yale University in 1977. While living in NYC, he was an assistant to sculptors Mark di Suvero, Charles Ginnever and Richard Serra. Waters has exhibited extensively throughout the Northeast. Recent large-scale projects include new work at the Governors’ Residence and Bushnell Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut and The Daniel Chester French Estate in Stockbridge, Mass.
Education
1977 M.F.A. Yale University
1975 B.F.A. Windham College
Exhibitions
2016 Exposed, sculpture exhibition, Helen Day Art Center, Stowe Vt
Madison sculpture mile , madison ct
UNH sculpture ,Homage
Hartford plaza , sculpture Jonathan Waters ,looking in,looking out , Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, CT 2015 Volta art fair nyc
2014-15 Sculpture at Bushnell Plaza, Hartford, CT
2013-15 Governors Sculpture Garden, Hartford, CT
2014 Sculpture & Collage, FRED.GIAMPIETRO Gallery, New Haven, CT
2013 Quarry Works, FRED.GIAMPIETRO Gallery, New Haven, CT
Metro Show NYC 2013, New York, NY
Sculpture at Chesterwood, Great Barrington, MA
2012 Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2012, Great Barrington, MA
SCOPE Art Fair NYC 2012, New York, NY
2011 Selected Works 2008-2011, FRED.GIAMPIETRO Gallery, New Haven, CT
Identifying Marks, Institute Library, New Haven, CT
Recent Sculpture/Works on Paper, Fairfield Art Center, Fairfield, CT
War Making, West Cove Studios, West Haven, CT
Scale Factor, West Cove Studios, West Haven, CT
State of the Moment, 360 State Street, New Haven, CT
Guy Show, Art Place, Fairfield, CT
Madison Sculpture Mile, Madison, CT
2010 CityWideOpenStudios, West Cove Studios, West Haven, CT
Caliber, West Cove Studios, West Haven, CT
Juried Exhibition, ArtSpace New Haven, CT
ArtistAsCurator, Kehler Liddell Gallery, New Haven, CT
LineDancing, A-SPACE West Cove, West Haven, CT
Recent Work, Norwalk Community College, CT
Ivoryton Sculpture Mile, Ivoryton, CT
Madison Sculpture Mile, Madison, CT
2009 Print Makers, Fair Haven Furniture, New Haven, CT
Group Show, Hull's Art Shop, New Haven, CT
Recent Work, Norwalk Community College, CT
Ivoryton Sculpture Mile, Ivoryton, CT
Madison Sculpture Mile, Madison, New Haven, CT
High to Low, Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT
Noir Transformed, West Cove Studio, New Haven, CT
Smoke and Mirrors, New Alliance Bank, New Haven, CT
Recent Work, Art Space New Haven, CT
2008 Abstractions Distractions, West Cove Studios, New Haven, CT
Group Show, Hull's on Whitney New Haven, CT
City Wide Open Studios, New Haven, CT
AIRS, 14 Gilbert St., West Haven, CT
Group Show, Parachute Gallery, New Haven, CT
Madison Sculpture Mile, Madison, CT
Group Show, Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT
Group Show, Vision Towards Wellness, Stony Creek, CT
Invitational, City Space Gallery, New Haven, CT
2005-07 Madison Sculpture Mile, Madison, CT
Art in the Garden, Wilbur & King, Guilford, CT
Art Space Open Studios, New Haven, CT
Art Space Open Studios, New Haven, CT
Art in the Garden, Wilbur & King, Guilford, CT
Two Person Show, Willoughby Wallace Library, Stony Creek, CT
Art Space Open Studios, New Haven, CT
1981-83 Group Exhibition Anne Plumb Gallery, NYC
Group Exhibition Art in General, NYC
Group Exhibition Art in General, NYC
Group Exhibition Max Hutchinson Gallery, NYC
Group Exhibition Queens College Long Island, NYC
Group Exhibition Baruch College, NYC
Recent Media
Sculptor’s creation a celebration for Madison school, The New Haven Register, 10/26/2011
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/10/26/news/shoreline/doc4ea8ab451176c423441935.txt? viewmode=fullstory
Interview with Jonathan Waters, BizzBuzzTV, July 2011
http://www.bizzbuzztv.com/entertainment-videos/fairfield-arts-center/83/
Jonathan Waters explores the dialogue between the 2- and 3-dimensional realms in FAC exhibition, CT Post, 7/14/2011
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Jonathan-Waters-explores-the-dialogue-between-the-1466123.php
Jonathan Waters at FAC, Art & Society, 6/30/2011
http://www.leesteele.com/2011/06/jonathan/
State of the Moment, Faith Middleton Show, 4/25/2011
http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/node/12452
Friday night opening at Gallery 360 in New haven high rise, Connecticut Art Scene, 4/14/2011
http://ctartscene.blogspot.com/2011/04/friday-night-opening-at-gallery-360-in.html
Questions of Scale, Connecticut Art Scene, 4/11/2011
http://ctartscene.blogspot.com/2011/04/questions-of-scale.html
Saturday Opening at A-Space Gallery in West Haven, Connecticut Art Scene, 4/7/2011
http://ctartscene.blogspot.com/2011/04/saturday-opening-at-space-gallery-in.html
Studio Visit: Jonathan Waters and the West Cove Gallery, Two Coats of Paint 12/14/2010
http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2010/12/studio-visit-jonathan-waters-and-west.html