Jonni Cheatwood (born July 21, 1986 in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...

) is an American visual artist. His main body of work operates in the gap between abstract expressionism, surrealism and conceptual art experimenting with various genres and techniques in his work. He currently lives and works in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Early life and education

Cheatwood was born and raised in Thousand Oaks, California, a suburb in the northwestern part of the

Greater Los Angeles area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

. He attended

Simi Valley High School Simi Valley High School (SVHS) is a public high school in Simi Valley, California. The school is part of the Simi Valley Unified School District and is located on the east side of the city. History Simi Valley High School was established in 1920 ...

Oaks Christian School Oaks Christian School (OCS) is a co-educational, college-preparatory, non-denominational Christian school serving grades 5–12. Oaks Christian School is located on in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California. The school was established i ...

and graduated from Westlake High School in 2004. He would leave southern California after graduation to attend

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...

and then in 2006, he transferred to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. While attending ASU, Cheatwood began to paint. Cheatwood graduated from Arizona State University in 2011 with a Bachelor's in Secondary Education and Film & Media Production.

Work

The bulk of Jonni's work incorporates photographs, generally self-portraits. He uses those images as a canvas to drip paint onto and calls these portraits "drippies." Cheatwood's large-scale abstract paintings imply movement and chaos that consist of sewn together canvas, denim, linens and burlap that often incorporate fragments of text, shoe prints, coffee and debris such as dirt. In 2012, Cheatwood was first noticed in The Next Artspace Artist competition, which was put on in collaboration with

Artspace Artspace may refer to: * Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City * Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut * Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia * Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...

and

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for his "Grace Series." Following that competition, this series was featured in the third issue of ''Fashion for Men'' magazine by Milan Vukmirovic, Ignant.de, Trendland and FFFFOUND and numerous other publications. Cheatwood also created the artwork for Kitty Cash's ''Love the Free, Volume 2'' mixtape and his "Grace Series" can be seen in Usher's music video,

She Came to Give It to You "She Came to Give It to You" is a song by American singer Usher, featuring Nicki Minaj and uncredited vocals from Pharrell Williams. It was released on July 8, 2014, through RCA Records. RCA Records sent the song to US rhythmic contemporary and c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatwood, Jonni 1986 births Brazilian artists Artists from California People from Thousand Oaks, California Living people Westlake High School (California) alumni