Over the Influence Hong Kong Presents "Dressed Up for the Letdown" by Jonni Cheatwood

[October 05, 2018] Over the Influence is pleased to present Dressed Up For the Letdown, an exhibition of new paintings from Brazilian-American, Los Angeles-based visual artist Jonni Cheatwood. The exhibition, marking Cheatwood's debut solo show in Hong Kong, will open on November 2, and remain on view through December 8, 2018. An opening reception for the artist will be held on November 1, from 6 to 8pm.

Mixing the materials of art-making with mundane items, Cheatwood's practice is one of controlled chaos. Beginning at the sewing machine before moving to the studio floor and then the walls and back again, Cheatwood's gestural abstract paintings are at once freewheeling and deliberate, spontaneous yet considered.

Drawing from an expansive visual vocabulary, most notably Abstraction Expressionism with a provocation of Dada, Cheatwood's large-scale multimedia works are an amalgam of painterly marks and found objects. With references from Rauschenberg and Gorky to de Kooning and Murillo, LA Fashion District finds, nostalgic prints, and vintage family photographs are applied to various fabrics which are then stitched together to create collage-like canvases.

Working with a wide range of mediums including painting, prints, photography, even a blanket from a train and detritus from his studio floor, Cheatwood's quasi-autobiographical patchwork paintings are the byproducts of two distinct compositions, the sewn together hybrid canvases focused upon color and fabric and the expressive gestures of painterly abstraction.

Integrating the images and materials of the everyday world, Cheatwood continually layers his self-expressive compositions, his gestural mark-making instinctually reactive yet built up over time. Transcending the decorative, Cheatwood repeatedly breaks down and rebuilds a painting, deftly exploring the tension between marks and medium, colors and composition, memory and time.

Inspired by the transformative nature of the aesthetic experience, with something different going on in every area of the canvas, his playful yet strategically worked multimedia assemblages proffer a deeply-rooted nostalgia.

About Jonni Cheatwood

Born in California, USA in 1986, Brazilian-American artist, Jonni Cheatwood currently lives and works in Los Angeles. A self-taught artist, Cheatwood began exhibiting recently with his first solo show being held in 2012. He has since shown extensively both in the US and abroad. Cheatwood has been exhibited at the Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York, NY, USA, and at various galleries internationally including Makasiini Contemporary (Turku, Finland), TW FINE ART (Brisbane, Australia) and Tappan (Los Angeles). His work can be found in the Stanley & Gail Hollander Collection, Los Angeles CA, USA; the Usher Raymond IV Collection; The Abraham Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon; The Hort family Collection, New York NY, USA; Omnicom Institute, Beirut, Lebanon; and Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York NY, USA amongst others.

About Over the Influence

Over the Influence is a gallery based in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, dedicated to a vibrant contemporary program of international emerging and mid-career artists. Over the Influence has served as a unique platform in Asia since its launch in Hong Kong in 2016, exhibiting an ambitious international program including Ron Arad (UK), Nobuyoshi Araki (JP), Alexandre Farto AKA Vhils (PT), Invader (FR), and Cleon Peterson (CA). In February 2018, the gallery opened its second space in Los Angeles showcasing a diverse program focused on global contemporary culture. With the launch of Over the Influence Los Angeles, the gallery aims to be a cultural landmark in Los Angeles’s vibrant arts district and an internationally positioned gallery focused on developing a dynamic cross-cultural dialogue between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

Address: 1/F, 159 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 7pm