Developing his scientific
approach to art took time. In
1994, living in an apartment in
Southfield — where the bedroom
was his studio and the bathroom
was his bedroom — Jonas spent a
year experimenting with chemicals,
lights, methods and paints.
"I slept on the bathroom floor,"
he says, something he recom-
mends, because the bathroom is
the darkest room in any home.
Today he has a separate work-
place — an 850-square-foot space
with concrete floors and exposed
ceilings. His paintings line the
walls of his "Soho-like" studio.
"My pieces are signature," he says
proudly. "I have a strong style no one
else possesses, so my work becomes
instantly recognizable."
But there was a time about nine
years ago when Jonas stopped painting
altogether because he couldn't take the
pressure. "I was too hard on myself. I
looked at my work and hated it. I
kept trying to perfect it," he says.
When he finally picked up his paint-
brush again, he decided to change his
ways. "I realized that no matter what I
do, it's never going to be perfect. Now
I'm hard on myself about how much I
accomplish. If I didn't stick to a sched-
ule, I'd get nothing done."

two earthquakes and the L.A. riots —
Jonas had had enough of the West
Coast and came home. He traveled
around the country for a while work-
ing for an import/export company
and held several odd jobs before secur-
ing his Pontiac studio in 1995 and set-
tling down as a full-time artist.
Jonas is the son of Shirley and Larry
Jonas of Southfield and older brother to
Joseph, 26. His parents belong to
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, where
Jonas went to Hebrew school and

Th

Jonas calls his scientific
approach to art
"Matrixism."

Jonas' goal is to do 10 paintings a
year. When he's working on a piece,
he puts in 9 to10-hour days, seven
days a week, and spends one to three
months to complete it.
Jonas, who grew up in Southfield,
went off to Pickering College, an all-
boys boarding school in Ontario,
Canada, at age 13. He remained there
through high school. In 1985 he
entered a painting in an independent
schools art show in Toronto and won
first place. The piece's geometric
abstract structure, consisting of six

attached rectangular canvases, was
the birth of Matrixism.
After high school, he attended
New York's Pratt Institute, a highly
esteemed art school, for two years,
but left for an opportunity in Los
Angeles, where he worked as a pro-
duction assistant and did set con-
struction on a low-budget horror
film. He also toiled as an extra in
movies. "I didn't want to act, but
being an extra paid well for doing
nothing," he says.
After two years — including

became a bar mitzvah. He still enjoys
family get-togethers during the holidays.
But the artist doesn't care about
fraternizing at typical twentysome-
thing hangouts, and he doesn't like
TV. He's even made a unique room-
mate choice — his 93-year-old grand-
mother, Ceil Jonas.
"I'm single, spiritual and don't eat
meat," he says. He also listens to
ambient techno and electronica music.
"I don't like to hang out at bars — I
don't care about the whole social

scene. I'm a borderline hermit. I don't
have much of a social life. I don't have
the time," says Jonas. If he gets a
chance to venture out, he opts for sci-
ence fiction movies.
As for the future, "someday I want
to have a group of people working
with me on paintings and sculpture
ideas I have," he says. Attracted to the
third dimension offered by sculpture
and architecture, "I can see myself in
40 years abandoning painting and
completely devoting myself to sculp-
ture and architecture."
Ultimate projects would be to
design a city or the world's tallest build-
ing. He also foresees designing a house
with changeable rooms and platforms
and walls suspended in space.
But for now he'll focus on colors,
shapes and being an artist, because, he
says, "I was born for the role." ❑

"The Birth of Matrixism
Geostructures I-X" runs March
5-31 at Galerie Blu, 7 N.
Saginaw, in Pontiac. The gallery
hosts an opening reception with
artist Franklin Jonas 7-10 p.m.
Friday, March 5. Gallery hours
are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-
Saturday. For more information,
call (248) 454-7797.

2/26
1999

Detroit Jewish News

77

