About the Artist Jonathan Kattine
Artist statement-
I am a multidisciplinary visual artist working across painting, photography, and sculptural mixed media. My practice is rooted in observation of people, environments, and the quiet tensions that exist between presence and absence, reality and perception.
My paintings and mixed media works combine heavily textured surfaces with found and constructed elements, often integrating sculptural paint, organic materials, and symbolic forms. These works exist somewhere between image and object, where the physicality of the surface becomes just as important as the subject itself. I am drawn to contrasts such as natural and synthetic, permanence and decay, and beauty and discomfort as a way to reflect the complexity of human experience.
Much of my work is informed by themes of labor, routine, and the search for meaning within everyday life. Whether through layered abstraction or surreal compositions, I aim to create spaces that feel both familiar and uncertain, moments that ask the viewer to slow down and reconsider what is often overlooked.
Across all mediums, my work seeks to document not just what is seen, but what is felt, an ongoing exploration of connection, existence, and the environments we move through.
Artist bio
Jonathan Kattine is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Santa Rosa Beach, working across painting, photography, and sculptural mixed media. He received his BFA in Studio Art from University of West Florida in 2020.
His practice is rooted in observation, focusing on the relationship between people, environments, and the subtle tensions between presence and absence, reality and perception. Through painting and mixed media, Kattine creates highly textured works that exist between image and object, often incorporating sculptural paint, organic materials, and symbolic forms. His work explores contrasts such as natural and synthetic, permanence and decay, and beauty and discomfort to reflect the complexity of human experience.
A recurring influence throughout his work is his fascination with outer space and the unknown. Cosmic imagery, celestial atmospheres, and space-forward environments often appear throughout his paintings and sculptural works, not as literal depictions of astronomy, but as symbolic extensions of human emotion, memory, and perception. These imagined worlds become metaphors for isolation, wonder, uncertainty, and connection, reflecting the same psychological and existential themes present throughout his practice. By blending surreal, cosmic elements with grounded human experiences, Kattine creates visual spaces that feel both expansive and deeply personal.
Influenced by themes of labor, routine, and the search for meaning within everyday life, his work moves between abstraction and surrealism, creating spaces that feel both familiar and uncertain. Alongside his studio practice, his photography extends this approach through a documentary lens, capturing quiet, human-centered moments that echo the same conceptual concerns.
Kattine’s work has been exhibited in solo, group and duo exhibitions across the United States and is held in private collections. He currently lives and works along Florida’s Gulf Coast.
In 2023, Jonathan began working as an Art Handler and Artist Assistant for acclaimed contemporary artist Justin Gaffrey, an experience that has further expanded his perspective within a dynamic studio environment. His own practice spans surreal and cosmic painting as well as sculptural mixed media, where found objects are fused with paint into contemporary relics. Across these bodies of work, Jonathan creates imagery that is at once playful and thought-provoking, inviting viewers to reflect on deeper themes while engaging with bold color, texture, and form. His goal is to spark curiosity and introspection, bridging the gap between enjoyment and meaning.
