Jonathan Mayers creates paintings in which metaphorical beasts roam amidst rendered landscapes, and uses Louisiana folklore to depict his view of the reality in which we live. Mayers explains his artistic process to Country Roads Magazine.

Mayers’ fierce environmental consciousness is coupled with a reclamation of authenticité Louisiane. His artistic practice avoids serene and sumptuous depictions of bayou fauna, food, and wildlife, which curate a particular image of our state for the tourist’s eye, replacing them with tumultuous landscapes of clashing politics and catastrophic allegories. His concern for authenticity is personal too, expressing itself in a linguistic passion that also informs his paintings, all titled in French. “Using language as part of my art is important because my art is also part of my identity. It’s pertinent because language informs the way in which you think about things and the ways in which you identify. When I do French immersion programs and I go to Nova Scotia—even there people identified me as an American—but if they approach me the first identifier I claim tends to be Louisiana Creole, rather than American.” Click here to read the full article.