Born and raised in the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Jonathan (Diné), or Badwinds, began his art experience with coloring books like many children. His drawing has evolved into a career as a creative professional.
When he’s not painting or drawing, he is designing print material and websites as a graphic artist.
In his youth, he began collecting comic books and started tracing famous comic book characters, like Spiderman and the X-Men. Elementary tracing evolved into freehand drawings with No. 2 school pencils. Nowadays, he works in ballpoint pen, which is how his current work is finished. Enter the world of Jonesy the sheep.
His work is inspired from identity and life on the Navajo reservation. The Wool of Jonesy begins when he wakes one warm spring morning to shave himself and tries to sell his brown wool at a local trading post. The humorous narrative brings to light the sustaining life of indigenous culture and its on-going struggle in a Eurocentric driven society.
Artist Statement
Inspired by identity and culture, my work originates from personal experiences. My art is a gateway into the political and racial status I was born into. The colonization I witness began with my Certificate of Indian Blood that states I am 4/4 Navajo. It continued with the withholding of information about the plight of Native peoples in secondary education, which excluded genocide, forced acculturation, and broken treaties. Today, I am confronted with Indian mascots, casinos (which I do not collect on), Navajo hipster panties, Johnny Depp as Tonto, and, now, McCain trying to convince the Navajo & Hopi Nations to relinquish Water Rights forever. My work is an introduction to the complexity of my status as an indigenous person in America.
The body of work I have created challenges the notion of Indian art by bridging the gap between the comic book form and easel painting. It engages the general public into the story of Jonesy, a sheep living on the edge of the Navajo reservation trying to sell his wool. The humorous narrative brings to light the sustaining life of indigenous culture and its on-going struggle in an Eurocentric driven society. Utilizing sheep allows me to illustrate profound issues in Native America, often unconnected to society that communicates adaptation, deconstruction, and knowledge. Using symbolic gestures, I am asking the audience to reflect on our personal status and the judgments we make that either empower or oppress.
Jonathan Nelson, 2012
Press
Exhibitions
- 2018 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
- 2017 The Indigenous Experience, University of Denver, Denver, CO
- 2016 #NoDAPL #StillHere: Native and Anti-Colonial Craft Against Dispossession, Apogee Journal
- 2016 Native Realities: Superheroes of Past, Present, & Future, Form & Concept, Santa Fe, NM
- 2015 Totah Festival Indian Market & Pow Wow, Farmington, NM
- 2015 Indigenous Fine Art Market, Santa Fe, NM
- 2015 Super Heroes: Art! Action! Adventure!, May 16-Aug 23, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
- 2014 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
- 2013 What Tribe, Self Help Graphics & Art, Los Angeles/Boyle Heights, CA
- 2013 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
- 2013 What Tribe, The Sagrado, Phoenix AZ
- 2012 IAIA Alumni Alumnus Self-Portraiture Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2012 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Universtiy of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
- 2012 Indian Born, American Made, Raices Taller 222 Gallery, Tucson, AZ
- 2011 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, Phoenix, AZ
- 2010 TaraOceans Group Exhibition, Biosphere2, Oracle, AZ
- 2009 Southwest Indian Art Fair, Arizona State Museum, Tucson, AZ
- 2007 Native Vinyl, Pop Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
- 2007 Traditional Pixelation, Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2006 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
- 2005 Student Winter Exhibit, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2005 Fine Arts Student Juried Exhibition, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
- 2005 SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM
- 2004 Student Winter Exhibit, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2004 Student Visual Communications Exhibit, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2003 southwestNET: architecture and design, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art,
- Scottsdale, AZ
- 1996 Nightwalker Exhibit, Fort Collins, CO
Collaborations, Shows, & Appearances
- 2018 Nov, Celebrating Latinx & Native American Heritage Runway Show
- 2018 Sept, San Juan College Pow Wow
- 2018 Sept, Grandoozy Live Art
- 2018 Sept, Denver Art Museum Friendship Pow Wow
- 2018 Sept, Tall Bull Memorial Park Pow Wow
- 2018 June, Rezilience Indigenous Arts Experience, Services In-Kind: Marketing, Advertising, Graphic Design, Web Development; Donations In-Kind: Posters, Stickers, Albuquerque, NM
- 2018 May, DU New Beginnings Pow Wow
- 2017 Nov, Native Panel (addressing the use of the “R-Word”) with Simon Moya-Smith, Tessa McLean, Ontario Duley, Viki Eagle, Angel Hinzo, and Alyssa White, University of Denver, Denver, CO
- 2017 Nov, More Than A Word Documentary screening and panel discussion with Gregg Deal, University of Denver, Denver, CO
- 2017 Oct, Artist’s Talk, Contemporary Native American Experience: Film and Media class, University of Denver, Denver, CO
- 2017 June, Rezilience Indigenous Arts Experience, Services In-Kind: Marketing, Advertising, Graphic Design, Web Development; Donations In-Kind: Posters, Stickers, Albuquerque, NM
- 2016 Nov, Indigenous Comic Con, Guest Panelist and Artist’s Talk, Albuquerque, NM
- 2016 Oct, FOCC (Faculty of Color Cohort) 2016, Services In-Kind: Illustration, Graphic Design, Denver, CO
- 2016 June, Rezilience Indigenous Arts Experience, Services In-Kind: Marketing, Advertising, Graphic Design, Web Development, Artwork Contributions: Coloring Book Vol I, Albuquerque, NM
- 2016 Feb, Young Writers Workshop, Guest Lecturer: Comic Book & Graphic Novel Workshop, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2015 Oct, “Comic Art Indigene: Where Comics and the Indigenous Meet” panelist, Santa Fe Comic Con, Santa Fe, NM
- 2015 May, Jonathan Nelson Talk & Book Signing, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
- 2014 June, “Natives In Comics” panelist, Phoenix Comicon, Phoenix, AZ
- 2014 April, American Indian Graduate Center Annual Reception, Fine Art Donation for Silent Auction
- 2014 Feb, Young Writers Workshop, Guest Lecturer: Comic Book & Graphic Novel Workshop, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM
- 2013 Oct, Native Comic Workshop, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, CA
- 2013 April, Artist’s Talk, Uplift Community School, Gallup, NM
