Biography
Jonathan Sardelis is an emerging artist based in Montreal. In 2019, he completed a master's degree in visual and media arts (honorable mention) at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). His paintings, videos and performative artworks tackle issues related to eroticism, pornography, the sacred and the connections between these notions in queer perspectives. He is particularly interested in marginality in representation. Jonathan has been awarded the Joseph-Armand-Bombardier master's grant by the Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. His artworks have been presented in many exhibitions venues and events, such as the CDEx (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), the ARTSIDA X et 9 (2020, 2019) exhibitions and auctions, the launching of the NPO's Les 3 sex* magazine (2019), the Ancienne École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (2017), the GHAM & DAFE gallery (2016) as well as in special events such as Pop Montreal (2018), Accès Public (2015-2016) and the Radical Queer Semaine (2014). In 2019, he is the co-curator, with Shandi Bouscatier, of a performance art event called Theosexual: Spiritual Porn, held at the CDEx center, Montreal. Since 2019, Jonathan is part of the NU.E.S collective for the creation of an interdisciplinary show, with whom he will have a residency at the Studio 303 (2020). Jonathan also presented lectures at the academic research colloquium « Savoir les marges: la recherche-création en contextes de marginalités » at UQAM (2018) and with the International Center of Contemporary Art of Montreal (CIAC MTL) (2017).
| cv_sardelisjonathan_02-23-2020_en.pdf |
Artist statement
Queer millenial of a catholic and orthodox education, user navigating the pornovisual meanders of the web, I search for tension points in the image, through queer eroticism and pornoeroticism*. Inspired by the representation of erotism in Western art, I seek to reclaim those representations by reframing body representation in a non normative way. Thus, gender roles, sexual orientations, gender expressions and identities are underlined, transformed, twisted, reconfigured.
Inspired by the tradition of realism in classical and religious painting, my work takes form upon subjective experiences collected from the internet and people I meet. The paint medium is used as a conceptual tool to express the materiality and symbolism of a (sometimes porno)erotic carnation. Associating the idea of beauty in classical and religious painting with idea of abjection that can provoke marginality and sexuality, I articulate this reflexion in a context of oppressed marginalities, as well as a quest for the sacred in the flesh and eroticism. I am especially interested in the connections between the sexual and the mystical experiences.
This figurative painting practice acts as a material manifestation of the concepts of (porno)eroticism and sacredness in the image, a sensible incarnation celebrating the queer and the flesh in painting. But it is not limited to the painting medium, as these reflections are also brought into performance art, where the body, speech and technologic effects become the mediums of (porno)erotic carnation. Does the profusion of erotic images on the internet allow us to open new kinds of ecstasies? Can the hypermoral vitality of the pornoweb guide us in queer perspectives where the conventions of representation would be transfigured? In which ways can (porno)erotic representations activate the mystical channel between spiritual ecstasy and carnal orgasm?
* I understand pornoeroticism as a type of eroticism lived through the assimilation of internet pornography in the popular visual culture (Attimonelli and Susca, 2017)
jonathan.sardelis@hotmail.com
Inspired by the tradition of realism in classical and religious painting, my work takes form upon subjective experiences collected from the internet and people I meet. The paint medium is used as a conceptual tool to express the materiality and symbolism of a (sometimes porno)erotic carnation. Associating the idea of beauty in classical and religious painting with idea of abjection that can provoke marginality and sexuality, I articulate this reflexion in a context of oppressed marginalities, as well as a quest for the sacred in the flesh and eroticism. I am especially interested in the connections between the sexual and the mystical experiences.
This figurative painting practice acts as a material manifestation of the concepts of (porno)eroticism and sacredness in the image, a sensible incarnation celebrating the queer and the flesh in painting. But it is not limited to the painting medium, as these reflections are also brought into performance art, where the body, speech and technologic effects become the mediums of (porno)erotic carnation. Does the profusion of erotic images on the internet allow us to open new kinds of ecstasies? Can the hypermoral vitality of the pornoweb guide us in queer perspectives where the conventions of representation would be transfigured? In which ways can (porno)erotic representations activate the mystical channel between spiritual ecstasy and carnal orgasm?
* I understand pornoeroticism as a type of eroticism lived through the assimilation of internet pornography in the popular visual culture (Attimonelli and Susca, 2017)
jonathan.sardelis@hotmail.com
