Jodi Bonassi

I am a  Los Angeles native and have been a professional artist for over 3 decades. During that time I explored everyday people, diversity,ethnicity, social circumstances and most recently nature and the environment. The works often include animals so my transition to the bird series was a smooth one. 

The Museum of Modern Art and HIstory in the MOAH Cedar Annex gave me a solo exhibit "Bird By Bird"  in February 2022. The birds have led to many other exhibition opportunities. 

I think of myself as a drawing informed painter.  This means that I mainly draw my images  beforehand and during the painting process.  My desire to contribute to society on a deeper level  drives me in the nature series to create narrative stories around my birds.  I wish to connect humans to nature and to each other.  Even in nature I desire to record history and people and how we all connect to nature.  It is important to preserve our wildlife  and question the environment that humans create.

Exhibiting since 1991, my works have  garnered reviews,awards, and articles, locally and nationally and internationally.  I was once interviewed over the phone by a well received magazine in Russia.  In 2013 I took part in  a residency in Osciem Poland where I created a painting for the government.   Well respected curator Peter Frank wrote, "Jodi Bonassi may be best known for her upbeat, rough hewn depictions of barber shops and other sites of public interaction, but here (in her drawings) she offers tender detailed and slightly strange drawings of children and other domestic figures.  What she brings to this time honored practice is a sense of anxious, almost paranoid distortion(2012). 

Writers of my work include: David S Rubin, Peter Frank, Genie David, Gary Brewer and more.

Reviews include Diversions LA, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times and more.

Public Artworks include CRA (Community Re-developement Agency) North Hollywood, Catholic Big Brothers, the Sunset Strip Guitar Project and more.

David S. Rubin, Betty Brown, Gary Brewer,  Peter Frank, Kent Twitchell, Ann Philbin, Franklin Sirmans, and Ali Subotnik are among the curators who have selected my works for exhibition.