OM.2024.103 - Jonathan Stangroom - USA

OM.2024.103 - Jonathan Stangroom - USA - No Title - collage on panel- 8 x 8 inches - Visual Poetry and Color

 Jonathan Stangroom is a Boston-area painter, conceptual artist, and independent art handler based out of Somerville, Massachusetts. Over a multi-decade career in the New England art scene, he has successfully balanced a personal studio practice focusing on stylized, narrative landscapes with an extensive background installing exhibitions for local galleries and private collectors. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Artistic Style & Philosophy

• "Goofy Drawings with Serious Paint": Stangroom describes his signature oil paintings as a blend of playful imagery with highly sophisticated, traditional techniques. His compositions frequently allude to the flat, stylized landscapes found in classic 1960s animation, such as Rocky and Bullwinkle or Dudley Do-Right cartoons. [1, 2, 3]
• Technical Rigor: Despite the crude, humorous, and simple layouts of his subjects—which heavily feature natural or industrial items like conifers, water mills, storm drains, and tree stumps—his paint handling is intricate. He builds up canvas surfaces using pointillism and multiple layers of transparent glazing. [1, 2]
• Ecological Commentary: Alongside traditional oil on panel works, Stangroom actively produces a series of paintings executed directly on physical tree cross-sections. These pieces serve as a visual commentary on modern environmental practices, land use, and deforestation. [1, 2]
• Influences & Plein Air: His studio work is highly informed by iconic modern artists and imagists, including Philip Guston, Giorgio de Chirico, Jim Nutt, and William T. Wiley. To ground his cartoon-influenced structures in real-world lighting, he also maintains a practice of painting en plein air watercolors. [1]
• Conceptual & Mail Art: Beyond painting, his practice incorporates ongoing conceptual documentation, which includes executing "mail art" and chronicling temporal changes via rubber-stamped postcards. []

Art Handling & Community Footprint

• Exhibition Installation: After getting his start as a house painter in the mid-1980s, Stangroom transitioned into professional art handling. He became a go-to freelance installer for leading regional institutions, including the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery.
• Representation: His work is represented locally by Gallery NAGA in Boston, which routinely features his work in dedicated exhibitions. [, 2, 3]

Education & Exhibitions

Stangroom holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. His artworks have been exhibited internationally and featured over 20 times in major competitive group exhibitions, such as the annual Postcards From The Edge showcase in New York City. His paintings reside in permanent corporate and institutional collections throughout Massachusetts, including Meditech, Babson College, and the First National Bank of Boston. [1]