Home for the summer, Cape Girardeau native Jonathan Seyer shares his artwork

Jonathan Seyer wanted to share his passion for photography when he came home from college this summer, so he set up two local shows with the help of family and friends in the art community.

One of the shows, which was on display for this month's First Friday show at the Black Door Gallery, represented Seyer's edgy personal side. The other, still hanging at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, gives a look into his interpretation of the human condition.

Seyer grew up in Cape Girardeau, the son of local art teacher and artist Brenda Seyer. He attended Notre Dame Regional High School, graduated from Central High School, joined the Navy and returned to study art at Southeast Missouri State University. Growing up, he helped his mother and her colleagues with art workshops and formed relationships with local artists like Craig Thomas and Carol Horst.

Seyer studied painting under Ron Clayton at Southeast, but he decided he wanted to pursue photography as his main medium and went to the Art Institute of Boston. He is in his last year there.

Since he began showing his work around six years ago, he has gone by the name jonathan b. andrew, because he said he wants his work to be able to stand on its own. Using the name while showing in his hometown, he said, was especially important, because he didn't want people who knew him to be influenced by his name but rather by the work they saw.

He also focused on the way his work was installed at each gallery. His work at the arts council is frameless and hung close together to tell a story and distinguish the collection as a whole work of art instead of individual photos.

Seyer's show at the Black Door Gallery consisted of stop-motion photography and a compilation of videos he created during a 16-hour period while he sat alone listening to a favorite song and using three cameras to photograph the movement of a mixture of flour, water, oil and milk. The resulting photographs were stills Seyer took from the hours of footage, which gave the mixture an appearance of moving, splashing water.

Craig Thomas, owner of the Black Door Gallery, said the show involved wrapping one of the rooms in clear plastic, which gave off a feeling of tension while viewing the photographs and video.

Other images included in the exhibit were more provocative, and Thomas said he thought his gallery was a good location for the show because it was less visible than a public showing like the one at the arts council.

The overall presentation of the show gave off a primal, uneasy feeling, Thomas said.

"It was intense and very cool," he said.

Seyer said some people wouldn't understand his more personal work and taste in presentation, but that was OK.

His show at the arts council features a collection of photographs taken of people mostly unaware of being photographed while walking down a Boston sidewalk. Seyer said the project began when he started observing a fragile ego in men that he thought was a result of the rise of both feminism in current times and conditions related to the economy and job loss. It evolved into a look he began to recognize in all people.

Seyer said instead of learning from words people say, he reads emotions and language. He said he saw men who needed to feel like providers but felt a depression and aloneness from the inability to do so.

"I wanted to expose this male fragility, but as I worked I began to see it in everyone, not just men," Seyer said. "Instead of taking pictures of just men, I took them of everyone as a way of showing we are all together in that feeling,."

Unposed men, women, children and combinations of families as they walk along the street are all portrayed in the final collection of full-length photographs.

Brenda Seyer said as Jonathan grew up, he was encouraged to use his art as a means of expression.

"I told him every one of those photos could be a story," she said.

She said Jonathan will likely show his work again in Cape Girardeau on his next visit home.

Pertinent addresses:

Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, 32 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO

Black Door Gallery, 124 S. Spanish St., Cape Girardeau, MO