JON SHELTON
WORKS II BIOGRAPHY II REVIEWS
 Dick Armey, drawing, Gunslingers, Hoodwinkers and Teabaggers, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2011, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Gunslingers, Hoodwinkers and Teabaggers, exhibition view, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2011, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Dick Armey, drawing, detail, Gunslingers, Hoodwinkers and Teabaggers, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2011 |
 Gunslingers, Hoodwinkers and Teabaggers, exhibition view, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2011, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Gunslingers, Hoodwinkers and Teabaggers, exhibition view, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2011, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Gunslingers, Hoodwinkers and Teabaggers, exhibition view, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2011, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Freedom in America, graphite and polychrome on paper, 19 x 17 cm, 2010-15, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Creative Healthcare Solutions, graphite and polychrome on paper, 19 x 17cm, 2010-15 |
 Freedom of the press, graphite and polychrome on paper, 19 x 17 cm, 2010-15 |
 Get Organized, graphite and polychrome on paper, 19 x 17 cm, 2010-15 |
 Motor City, graphite and polychrome on paper, 19 x 17 cm, 2010-15 |
 We love to see you smile, graphite and polychrome on paper, 19 x 17 cm, 2010-15 |
 We call it ibomb, graphite on paper, 2008 |
 Margin Milieu, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, 2008/9 |
 Margin Milieu, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, 2008/9 |
 Margin Milieu, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany, 2008/9 |
 Mixed Inivitational, exhibition view, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2015, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Visitors, ink on cloth, 97 x 252 cm, 2015 |
 Semi-Submersible Ultra- Deep Water Drilling Platform, ink and oil on cloth, 350 x 90 cm, 2015, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Capitalism without borders, wood, gold, paint, ca. 4 x 28 cm, 2008, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Mixed Inivitational, exhibition view, krupic kersting, Cologne, 2015, © Kurt Steinhausen |
 Newspaper, installation view, Cologne 2005 |
 Godzilla vs. The Dragon of Chunxiao, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm, 2013 |
 Pool Party at Shaybah, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm, 2013 |
 Rifle (Now You See'em), oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm, 2013 |
 Splash (Now You Don’t), oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm, 2013 |
 Oscigen Bugmaker™, graphite and polychrome on paper, 13 x 9 cm, 2007 |
 Oscigen Bugmaker™, graphite and polychrome on paper, 13 x 9 cm, 2007 |
 Oscigen Bugmaker™, graphite and polychrome on paper, 13 x 9 cm, 2007 |
Detroit born artist Jon Shelton has been living in Germany for many years now. Nonetheless, the role of the United States on the international political stage remains an important point of departure for much of his artistic activity. Political machinations hidden from the public eye, and banished from the official canons of US history, are a central preoccupation for the artist. Thematically, he uses a variety of artistic approaches to investigate strategies for maintaining power through military means, political and financial networks, and media manipulation.
In his work, Shelton makes use of different types of thematic and formal abstraction. Real conflicts are at times represented in caricatured national ciphers and distilled into barbed cliches; at others, real motifs begin to dissolve, step by step, into abstract painting. The use of early Renaissance glazing techniques also provides an unexpected vantage point from which to look at today's digital pictorial worlds, and into the chasm between virtual perception and reality. The transfer and collage of touchstones from a collective history into an atypical medium or an unusual context provokes shifts in perception, often legible as humorous, critical commentary. *
* Anabel Charlotte Runge, M.A.
BIOGRAPHY Jon Shelton
Born 1968 in Detroit, USA
Lives in Cologne and Detroit
EDUCATION
B.A. in Fine art & US history at Albion College, Michigan, USA / MFA in printmaking at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; USA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 Schau 2, Kunsthaus: Kollitsch, Klagenfurt, Austria
2015 Kunstverein Sundern, Sundern, Germany
2015 Mixed Invitational, krupic kersting || kuk, Cologne
2014 Studio works, studio tour at the occasion of ART COLOGNE, Cologne, Germany
Books, Roygallery, Zülpich, Germany
2013 Exciting New Investment Opportunities in Oil, krupic kersting galerie, Cologne, Germany
2012 Nuits blanches, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2011 Gunslingers, hoodwinkers and tea baggers, krupic kersting galerie, Cologne, Germany
2010 Current drawing, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York; USA
2009 reDiscover, Galerie Slowboy. Düsseldorf, Germany
2008 Margin Milieu, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
2007 Projektraum, Cicognani Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2006 Passagen, International design in Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2005 OESPG [TFO], Chelsea Kunstraum 2 [ckr2], Cologne, Germany
2003 Topoi of nature, Galerie Völcker & Freunde, Berlin, Germany
2002 Special projects and other things, Künstlerverein Malkasten, Düsseldorf; Germany
2000 Black box, Galerie Olaf Stüber, Berlin; Germany
RESIDENCIES
2005 Hotel Chelsea artist in residence program. Cologne, Germany
2003 Art grant of the Land NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany
PUBLICATIONS
2012 Artforum International, Noemi Smolik on „Gunsliongers“,Issue February/ March 2012
2008 Margin milieu / Daytime Lobbyists [mit Gerrit Göllner].750cid, Köln/ Detroit
1998 Oscitant / Osculent. Edition Howeg, Zürich.
1994 Nitrous oxide / Espresso machines. Walther König Verlag, Köln.
COLLECTIONS
2013 Private collections in Germany, Switzerland, France and USA - amongst other Collection Prof. Dr. Schröder
2009 Museum Ludwig / „Grafiksammlung“, Cologne
2009 “Kunst- und Museumsbibliothek” of the city of Cologne
1999 „Deutsche Nationalbibliothek“, Leipzig
1998 „Zürcher Stadtbibliothek”, Zürich
„Schweizer Landesbibliothek”, Bern