Overview
Jonas Gerard was a self-taught painter. He was born on the African continent in Casablanca, Morocco in 1941, to parents of French and Brazilian ancestry. Throughout his travels, he maintained a strong connection to the essence of his birthplace. Jonas Gerard passed away peacefully in the summer of 2020.
He began his artistic career on the streets of New York City and spent many decades in the Miami area. He Operated two 5,000-sq. ft. galleries which both included their own working studio in the Asheville, NC River Arts District.
Jonas was a self-styled spontaneous abstract expressionist painter. However, over the years, his inner push to make art took him through a series of periods: figurative, narrative, illustrative, abstract, and three-dimensional. The rhythmic influence of music is an important part of his artistic process. Many of his paintings were created listening to the loud, vibrant Afro-Cuban rhythms he grew to love in Miami. The Moroccan tribal music of his childhood and the propulsive jazz of his early Greenwich Village days, mixed with French café music and Brazilian sambas can also be heard coming from his studio late into the night.
The music allowed him to work unpredictably and intuitively, kicking it into another mode and bringing it home to a subconscious space where he can respond to the rhythm, and the direction the paintings suggest to him.
That direction is filled with light. It is no wonder that brilliant use of color dominates his work; interlaced with masterful choreography of form and composition, comparable to the absolute joy of child-like discovery. Visitors to both his galleries constantly remark about the profusion of light, color and warmth greeting them as soon as they walk through the front door. Jonas’ use of high-quality acrylic paints guided by the rhythms of his ancestral music has created a very large, vibrant body of work that speaks directly to the creative light in all of us.
MEDIUM
Acrylics on canvas, mixed-media and found objects collage.
Jonas has the utmost respect and gratitude for the high quality of Golden Acrylic Paints.
Solo Exhibitions
- The Asheville Regional Airport
- The Asheville Loft, Asheville, NC
- Club 151 at the Indigo Hotel, Asheville, NC
- Altamont Theater, Asheville, NC
- Weinberger Fine Art, Kansas City, MO
- Truman Medical center, Kansas City MO, Center for the Healing Arts Gallery
- TEDx, Diana Wortham Theater, Asheville NC
- Asheville Community Theatre Gallery, NC
- Summit One Gallery, Highlands, NC
- Big Arts, Sanibel, FL
- Artist in Residence Gallery, Coconut Grove, FL
- Slater-Price Fine Art, Soho, NY
- NationsBank Sky Gallery, Downtown Miami, FL
- Capitol Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
- Jeanine Cox Fine Art, Miami Beach, FL
- Henri Gallery, Washington, DC
- ArtiZen Fine Art, Dallas, TX
- Art Resources Gallery, Chicago, IL
- Mary Bell Gallery, Chicago, IL
- Judith Wolov Gallery, Boston, MA
- Joan Hodgell Gallery, Sarasota, FL
- Joy Moos Gallery, Miami, FL
- Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL
- Miami- Dade Public Library, Miami, FL
- Diego Victoria Gallery, N. Miami Beach, FL
- The Coral Gables Congregational Church, FL
Group Exhibitions
- Art Santa Fe 2016, NM
- Blink Artist Exhibition, Cincinnati OH
- “Light of the Ancestors”, Pepco Edison Place Gallery, Washington DC
- “An Evening Among the Artists”, Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Coral Gables, FL
- “Masks” Jewish Museum, Miami Beach, FL and Bal Harbour Gallery, Bal Harbour, FL
- “Art and Science” Museum of Discovery, Ft Lauderdale, FL
- “Jazz & Art “ Saint Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Dayton, Ohio
- “A Safe Haven for Newborn”, Parrot Jungle, Watson Island, Miami, FL
- Art Resources Gallery , Chicago, IL and Minneapolis, MN
- “BBC Gardener’s Live”, Steel Outdoor Sculpture, Birmingham, England
- “Pablo Picasso: Homage To a Modern Icon”, Fraser Gallery, Washington DC
- Johnny Amsterdam Fine Arts, Holly Hill, FL
- Art in the Square, Dallas, TX
- Gallery One, Naples, FL
- New Morning Gallery, Asheville, NC
- Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Miami, FL
- Atlanta Dogwood Festival, GA
- Port Clinton Art Festival, Chicago, IL
- NY Art Expo”, Jacob Jarvits Center, NYC
- “SOFA CHICAGO”, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
- “SOFA MIAMI “, Coconut Grove, Miami, FL
- Turnberry Gallery, Miami, FL.
- King’s Chosen Exhibitions, Ann Arbor, MI
- Diego Victoria Gallery, N. Miami Beach, FL
- Fairchild Tropical Gardens, Miami, FL
- Palm Avenue Gallery, Sarasota, FL
- Matthew Scott Gallery, Miami, FL
- Ocean Drive Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
- Tavelli Gallery, Aspen, CO.
- Blanco Y Blanco, Deerfield Beach, FL
- ArtiZen Gallery, Dallas, TX
- Old Town Art Festival, Chicago, IL
- Big Canoe Community, Dawson, Georgia
- Northern Virginia Festival of the Arts, Reston, VA
Honors
- Honorary Guest at St. Ignatius College, Handag, The Island of Malta which included Two LIVE Television Interviews ‘Meandor’ and ‘Malta Today’ on National Malta TV
- 2008 Telly Award- Bronze for Documentary Trailer by Bitter Jester Creative
- 2008 Telly Award- Bronze for Documentary Trailer by Bitter Jester Creative
- Artist of the Year 2008 – Asheville Area Arts Council
- Featured on ABC’s 20/20 news special ” Happiness in America”
- Artist of the Year 2007 – Southlake Art in the Square
Selected Commissions
- Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Oslo, Norway
- Dr. Gilbert Amzalag, Paris, France
- K. Jawa, Saudi Arabia
- JL Pucknus, Duesseldorf, Germany
- Sassoon Fashions, NYC
- Jeff Hunt Machinery , SC
- University of Minnesota
- Diageo, United Distillers & Vintners, Miami
- Levitt Weinstein Memorial Chapels, Miami, FL.
- Megabank, Miami, FL.
Projects
-
- In 2016, Jonas painted the 8ft. x 24ft. mural, Passionately Alive, to hang over the CarePartners therapy pool in Asheville.
-
- In 2015, Jonas painted the 8 ft. x 30 ft. mural, Life, Love and Passion, to hang over the entrance to Riverview Station in Asheville’s River Arts District.
- In 2010, Jonas painted his Chevy, and named it the Van-Go.
- In 1985, he assisted Christo and Jeanne-Claude on their Surrounded Islands project in Miami, Florida.
