Jonathan Christensen Caballero
Jonathan Christensen Caballero
Jonathan Christensen Caballero is an multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Utah. He received his A.S. in art from Snow College, B.F.A in ceramics and sculpture from Utah State University and M.F.A. in ceramics from Indiana University Bloomington. He has exhibited nationally in shows such as The Regional at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, NCECA Annual: Social Recession at the Weston Art Gallery, Figuring Space at The Clay Studio Philadelphia. Christensen Caballero has been the ceramic Artist in Residence at the Interdisciplinary Ceramic Research Center at the University of Kansas, the Lawrence Arts Center, and is currently a Red Star Visiting Artist in Residence at the Belger Crane Yard. Christensen Caballero’s work focuses on the human figure and advocates for the Latin American labor community.
My art is based on my personal identity, which was formed both by watching my parents support the family through labor jobs as well as by my mother, who emigrated from Panama. My artwork narrates enduring questions of identity with the human figure, labor politics, and mixed-media sculpture. My narrative sculpture reinterprets the visual iconography throughout north and central America with the materials available to working class immigrants today. The figures reveal people who contribute to society by enduring labors which often sacrifice their health and safety. It is a moral imperative for Latin Americans to be celebrated as part of the fabric of US society. Our bodies aren’t solely destined for labor, but also love, joy, and acceptance.
