Illustrations by Jonathan Bartlett

The fox trap

Jonathan Bartlett is a New York based illustrator with a knack for metaphor and clever stories.

Growing up I certainly didn’t consider picture making or storytelling to be a means to an end. I didn’t even know what the word ‘illustration’ meant until I was a junior in college.

One day I told my teachers I wanted more creative freedom so I was going to be a graphic designer; they laughed at me…quite literally. In turn this made me really mad so I looked again at the list of art majors, saw illustration and in an instant said ‘fine, I’ll be an illustrator”. And that was that, a classic case of the tell-me-I-can’t-do-something…

Mutual deception

Haunted (left) - You are nothing without me (right)

Duke's dilemma

Missing vital pieces

The dating pool (left) - Sailing to Byzantium (right)

Difficult to measure

Tension (left) - Scare tactics (right)

The ship of fools

Absurdist Logic

A return on faith (left) - Follies (right)

View more of Jonathan Bartlett’s work here.