Jonathan Latiano
MEDIUM: Installation, Sculpture, Drawing
STUDIO LOCATION: 115
WEBSITE: jonathanlatiano.com
INSTAGRAM: @jonathanlatiano
Artist Bio:
Jonathan Latiano received his BA in Studio Art from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvanian in 2006 and his Masters in Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012. Jonathan has exhibited in numerous solo and group public art exhibitions in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, and London England and his work has been featured in local, national and international art publications. Jonathan’s artistic and teaching practices have earned him multiple honors and awards including the 2013 Mary Sawyers Baker Prize in Art, Moravian College’s 2015 Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and the 2016 Bunting Teaching Fellowship in Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Jonathan maintains his studio practice in Somerville, Massachusetts, is a member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery, is represented by Chimaera Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, and serves as the Director of the Art & Art History Program at Merrimack College.
Artist Statement:
From an early age, I have been both captivated and unnerved by the complexity and scope of our natural world. This fascination has shaped my artistic practice, which centers around the perception of time, space, scale, and our ability to abstractly place ourselves within the larger universe around us.
I am drawn to how our relatively short life spans affect the way we perceive time, and how the context of the present shapes how we interpret the past and predict the future. Scientific fields that symbolize the passage of time, such as geology, physics, and evolutionary biology, are commonly employed as catalysts in my work. My artwork weaves between science-fact and science-fiction, alluding to the more elusive qualities of our environment, and our own uncertain future on this planet.
My installations explore labor, impermanence, and fragility. Site‐responsiveness and architectural-integration are vital to my practice, appropriating the pre-existing structure of the site as part of the artwork. I strategically focus on the physical boundaries of my artwork, challenging the lines between where the art ends and the exhibition space begins. The act of building is central to both the final work and my creative process, and much of my artistic practice is dedicated to methodic material manipulation. I am rarely satisfied with things that take me a day to build, and have my best ideas when I’m neck-deep in a difficult fabrication problem.
Title: The Only Thing That's the End of the World is the End of the World
Year created: 2023
Materials: Shattered mirror, light coordinated music, LED lights, mirror, motors
Dimensions: Approximately 14ft x 50ft x 50ft
Title: What's Worth Saving
Year created: 2023
Materials: Multi-Media Installation: Selected objects from the Ocean Alliance, carved foam, stained wood, LED projected image and video, and soundscape.
Dimensions: Approximately 15ft x 42ft x 18ft
Title: Love to the Letter and the Letters Spelled Death
Year created: 2022
Materials: Paint, carved polystyrene, sound-absorbing foam, projected video, and sound
Dimensions: Approximately 10ft x 30 ft x 20 ft