Jonathan Canady - Some Text

  Long before Covid, or the war in Ukraine, I came to the realization that humanity is doomed. In the book "The Uninhabitable Earth," the author comes to the optimistic conclusion that there is hope for people to extend their ability to live on Earth through immediate radical government, and corporate change. I use the word "extend" because the damage we’ve already done will eventually end humanity, no matter what. The author of "The End of Nature" called for that radical change to begin in 1989. I even wrote lyrics for a song about it back in 1992, called “Dead World.” I look at the way people behave right now, and have to say we’re too greedy, stupid, and lazy to do what’s necessary to make life remain as stable as it is currently. As a person living in the Pacific Northwest, I live with yet another reminder of the fragility of our current quality of life. We are long overdue for the catastrophic Cascadian Subduction Zone earthquake. Yet, here I remain...

  By Scott Candey  Based on a story and drawings by Jonathan Canady 2049 - Insulated from the repercussions of it's unique hunger. Humanity isolates in towering pyramids scattered across the world. Two workers, in the art vault sector of pyramid Zed-43, talk. Ensconced in the obsolete sterile suits issued to Zed block, they are indistinguishable.  “You ever think about how it came to all this?” Number Two's words are hollowed out behind his mask.  “Sure.” Number One didn't look up from the crate at his feet. “It was a short think though… money. Money, is your answer.” “Money? What good is that now?”  One tugged at his suit, aligning his eye holes to his eyeballs. “It's beyond good or bad now, it's just habit. It’s been like this since before you and me. When we're dead some other stiffs will be humping around in these same suits. You can bank that.” “But, the commissary takes work credits. They wouldn't know money if they saw it. ...

My recording Present Shock (now bonus tracks on the Suffering and Defiance CD / digital release - listen / purchase here on bandcamp ) was made with the idea of simply capturing a random moment in time. The two tracks were recorded, edited, and released on October 2nd, 2020. The concept was the important thing, not the day itself. My approach was to record the two tracks in the moment, while using a live radio broadcast as a sound source, in addition to my usual analog synthesizer. The cover photo (below) was taken of a live TV news anchor, while I was editing the tracks. During that stage, I let the general idea process in my mind, in order to lead me to the song titles. Coincidentally, around the same time I watched The Social Dilemma with my partner, and was trying to remember the name of Douglas Rushkoff's related book that I had read a few years earlier. That failed to happen, but the title popped into my brain as I was editing the music. The phrase "Present Shock...

  The ideas behind my Abraxus series first began forming when I lived in Philadelphia. Around 2008, or so, I was on the train to work, and ran across a folded sheet of very strange writing. The page was completely filled with frantic text, and highlighted with various colors. I found it fascinating. A few years later, I was on the same train, and I saw a very tall man, in beat up clothing, putting the same type of paper in the train schedule holders. He also put a grocery bag collage on a seat (photo above). I asked him if I could have one of the sheets of writing. He said, "For a one dollar donation." I paid him, and he said something to the effect of, "These are words direct from God, and you won't learn them in a church." This experience reminded me of two other Philadelphia visionary art-phenomena: The Wireman, and the Toyenbee Tiles. This may sound incredibly insensitive, but I would regularly find myself fantasizing about being a homeless artist, expressi...

4.16.16 Audio / performance collaboration with Peggy Pfenninger High Water Mark, Portland, OR Statement text by Peggy Pfenninger Have we come a long way? Today women are still considered the inferior gender to many cultures around the globe. Women are more than vaginas, sex objects, breeders, housekeepers... Women are constantly judged because of their gender. Every day women battle the societal pressures and restraints placed upon them. Can she handle it, is she strong enough, is she too emotional, is she smart enough? There are also many phrases associated with the female gender which are meant as negative. You throw like a girl. Only girls cry. Don’t be a pussy. All of the injustices against women must stop. In the United States we have made great strides, however there are many hurdles yet to overcome. Women are strong, beautiful creatures whose light has been dimmed for far too long. Only when we completely extinguish gender inequality can women truly shine. Please keep in min...

Ten Faces of Us 2.21.16     Statement for the Ten Faces of Us Series (2016)  1 & 2) Male 1) US soldiers serving honorably in the military. 2) US war atrocities. 3 & 4) Abstraction (drawing from photo) 3) Art at it’s most pure. 4) Art at it’s most empty. 5 & 6) Female (collage from Hustler and Portland Monthly Magazines) 5) Positive reward from the publication of likeness. Money / promotion / appreciation of beauty etc. 6) Exploitation of likeness to sell something. Pleasure / lifestyle / consumer items. 7 & 8) Me 7) Making art. 8) Indulging negative obsessions. 9 & 10) You 9) Good. 10) Evil. In 2015, I was looking for source material for my next body of work and considered using photojournalism, and combat photography. After some online research I ran into a Rolling Stone article titled "The Kill Team: How U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan Murdered Innocent Civilians." I quickly decided this was worth exploring and discovered there was a d...

  Sequelae 1 (2013)   Before relocating to Portland, Oregon, riding through western Philadelphia on the elevated train was a regular part of my life. From those windows I could see decaying buildings and machinery, tangles of aging wire and seemingly endless arrays of outmoded TV antennae. These sights were simultaneously repulsive and beautiful to me. The term Sequelae is defined as an abnormal condition resulting from a previous disease. To me, urban decay is the outcome of human infection. As dark as that may seem at first glance, I was trying to show that this reality is both monstrous and appealing at once. “Sequelae” and “S.L.S.” (Scan Lines Sequelae) are two different approaches to the same concept: - The “Sequelae” works feature traditionally drawn figures and are completed without the use of computers. - The “S.L.S.” works replace the figure with a captured analog TV image of news from that day. These frames were shot with a smart phone and immediately uploaded to ...