For over a decade Jonathan Zawada keeps inspiring me with his unique sense of aesthetics, which allows him to create images that merge seemingly opposing qualities, being vividly bold and deeply serene at the same time. For me, it’s his distinct passion for details, color and skillful composition why it never feels too much—it’s just so irresistibly well done.
The interplay between the natural and the artificial has always been a main theme in Zawada’s practice, but in recent years this fascination still seems to grow lusher, as floral mutants and otherworldly rock formations occupy center stage. We even find rare strains of mushrooms, reminding us of nature’s generative power to build in endless variance. On these grounds, all perception is a gamble. A meta-level is always just around the corner, and Zawada’s hyperreal imagery is a vivid glimpse into an expanded perceptual bandwidth.
Rare Mushrooms, 2017
House of Genetic Diversity, 2019
A collaboration with Mark Pritchard exploring the unlimited boundaries of biologic form through the inspiration of their natural environment.
Learn more about this project in this video
Other works, 2010—2018