Phantasos Painting

BIO Born and raised in a small fisherman’s village in southern Sweden, Jonas Fisch traded continents in 2002 and dwelled in LA for about two decades before moving to the East Coast. He currently lives and works in Miami but tends to create paintings in different locations when traveling. Jonas has exhibited across California, in New York, Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Miami, Switzerland, China and Hong Kong. His paintings can be found in private collections and institutions around the globe. ARTIST STATEMENT As a fundamentally introspective person I have an explosive need to express, communicate and reflect my innermost thoughts and feelings. Painting allows me to explore my own subconscious, examine and confront my own experiences. I usually don't have a preconceived idea, but rather a strong notion or vision of what I want to create. Like a sponge I try to soak up inspiration from all around. Sometimes it’s literature, film, music, past or present events that become vibrant, buzzing reflections and commentary on society expressed in colorful figures, words and shapes. Other times it's daily life, personal experiences and emotions that flood my mind and spill onto the canvas. I like to stay in a state of negative capability, where I don’t necessarily know what I will paint but trust that I will paint something. Something will come out in a personal expressive language with a jazz-like diaristic spontaneity. It’s like wringing out that inspirational soaked sponge onto the canvas. My process is instinctive and organic, the paintings energetic and vibrant emerging from my subconscious without judgment, hopefully full of surprise being put together by feelings trying to find a harmony in an imaginary universe. Endless metaphors, messages, layers and symbols move in and out of focus as your eyes explore my mythological puzzle pieces with multiple solutions. You’ll see a face, then struggle to find it again as the same shapes become the arm or a leg of a larger character, letters in a cryptic word, poem or clusters of stars and trapezoids. My pieces keep evolving piece by piece just like life expands with every breath and year. Just like with any art, I think the listener, reader or viewer is the last participant completing the artwork with their own emotions. There aren’t any mistakes only possibilities. At a certain point the painting takes on a life of it's own and reveals itself. It's the point of no return and I have no choice but to paint it.