kuk

cologne

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

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

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

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