Photo by Daniel Garcia
Bio: Born in Ohio in 1971, Jonathan Crow received his MFA in Filmmaking from the California Institute of the Arts in 2003. Before turning to painting, he spent many years working in the film industry—a background that continues to shape the cinematic atmosphere of his work.
In 2013, following a career shift, Crow returned to his early love of drawing. His series Veeptopus—portraits of U.S. Vice Presidents with octopuses on their heads—became an online sensation and was featured in BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, and The New York Times.
Since 2018, Crow has focused primarily on oil painting, developing a body of work that explores the uncanny beauty and quiet tensions of Southern California suburbia. His paintings—at once humorous, unsettling, and deeply observed—draw inspiration from Edward Hopper, Richard Diebenkorn, and the films of David Lynch.
Crow’s work has been exhibited throughout the Bay Area and beyond, including Arc Gallery (San Francisco), the New Museum Los Gatos, Marin MOCA, TAG Gallery (Los Angeles), and the de Young Museum.
Crow currently based in Santa Clara, California.
Artist Statement: When I was a child in the 1970s, my parents drove me from our home in rural Ohio to visit my grandparents in suburban California. I was struck by the mountains, the palm trees, the dusty colors of the hills—and especially the light. Those brief visits left a lasting impression, like an image burned onto film.
Nearly fifty years later, I paint those same Californian suburbs. Working in oil, I use their tidy streets and manicured yards as a stage to explore form, color, and the tension between the familiar and the strange. My background in film shapes how I compose each scene—like a still from a forgotten movie—charged with a quiet sense of story.
Through these ordinary landscapes, I create images that are at once amusing and unsettling, inviting reflection on race, gender, and what it means to live in this strange country called America.
Exhibits:
Cul-de-Sac, Triton Museum 2026 — Solo Exhibit
Pacific Artistry Showcase, Society of West Coast Artists, 2025 — Honorable Mention
Greater Bay Area Open, New Museum in Los Gatos, 2025 — First Prize
What Beauty Is For…, Shoh Gallery, Berkeley, 2025
Delicious, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, 2025
SF Noir, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, 2025
Joy, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, 2024
103rd Anniversary Exhibition, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, 2024
Tiny, Studio Gallery San Francisco, 2024
Boundaries, New Museum in Los Gatos, 2024
Showstoppers, 2358MRKT Gallery, San Francisco, 2024
Salon at the Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, 2024
Water and Wine (Solo Show), Lo-fi Wines, Los Alamos, CA 2024
City Streets, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, 2024
Interiors, Studio Gallery, San Francisco,2024
Tiny, Studio Gallery, San Francisco,2023
Salon at the Triton Museum of Art, 2023
Delicious, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, 2023
Summer Program, Shoh Gallery, Berkeley, 2023
Land on Fire (Solo Show), Lo-fi Wines, Los Alamos, CA 2023
Tiny, Studio Gallery, San Francisco, 2022
Colors, Marin Society of Artists, San Raphael, 2022
Pure Paint, Art Benicia, Benicia CA, 2021
Big Show on Big Art, JCO’s Art Haus, Los Gatos, CA 2021
California Open 2021, TAG Gallery, Los Angeles 2021
All About Women, Marin Society of Artist, San Raphael, 2021
De Young Open, De Young Museum, San Francisco 2020
Justice, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato CA 2020
PANIC, O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley 2020
2021?, ShockBoxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA 2020 • First Prize
California Open 2020, TAG Gallery, Los Angeles 2020
Celebration of Art 2020, Marin Society of Artist, San Raphael 2020
Cul de Sac, Solo Show, Kaleid Gallery, San Jose 2020
Expressions, Marin Society of Artist, San Raphael 2020 • First Prize
Left Coast, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato CA 2020