Jonathan Bolton’s drawing practice consists of observational drawing and sketching from life. He then recontextualizes his observations by altering forms and embedding subjects in dense fields of graphite marks. The figures and spaces drawn from his everyday life imbue his works with feelings of home, memory, nostalgia, and routine.

His work primarily contends with blurry lines between things, disrupting figure-ground relationships with tightly rendered and ambiguous forms that occupy the same space. Underpinned by themes of absurdism, phenomenology, and existentialism, his drawings highlight the susceptibility of visual perception by embracing the essential properties of graphite in a two-dimensional space – how meaning and presence is shifted by the simplest addition and subtraction of material.

Jonathan Bolton has exhibited work in solo, juried, and curated exhibitions across South Carolina, including ArtFields’ 2023 Competition, The Arts Center of Greenwood's FOF Juried Shows, and Artisphere's 2022 and 2024 Artist of the Upstate Juried Exhibition. His work was exhibited in Manifest Gallery's DRAWN 2023 in Cincinnati, OH. His work is featured in regional and international publications including Manifest Gallery's 15th International Drawing Annual. He earned his BFA from Winthrop University, his MFA from Clemson University, and is a drawing instructor for Clemson University. Jonathan currently works out of Oyé Studios, an artists' cooperative in downtown Greenville, South Carolina.