Taking what you see and reversing its concept of form — that’s the basic description of Reverse Reality art. Turning organic items like people and trees into geometric shapes and turning man-made objects into more fluid shapes. This type of art made by Jonathon Shannon will be on display at Dirtbag Ales throughout June in the new exhibit, Bringing It Back.

Shannon lives in New York City but has roots here in Fayetteville, growing up in a military family. He spent much of his childhood in our local city before graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Shannon traveled to France and Hong Kong during his college years to expand his understanding of art. He moved to New York City afterward and currently works as an art handler outside of being an artist.

His work has been featured in art shows and exhibitions in New York City, North Carolina, Savannah, Atlanta, Miami, Hong Kong and France.

However, Fayetteville is home. Shannon still has family in the city and came back to live here in the early months of the pandemic.

Bringing it Back is inspired by Shannon’s desire to bring his art in New York City back to his hometown to inspire his friends, family and community to dream big.

“This series is based on me living in New York City at the time. I basically go around the area within Brooklyn Manhattan area, just walking around and just painting on-site throughout the city,” Shannon said. “I do my own interpretation. Where in the past, I used to paint the way I see things, more like impressionists, and then that kind of coupled with that style. But I just kind of thought I was just repeating history. I developed a style called reverse reality.”

This isn’t the first art exhibit Shannon has had in Fayetteville. In 2016, his exhibit, NightLife: A Reversed Reality at Gallery 116th, was on display, and it was during this exhibition that Shannon met the owners of Dirtbag Ales for a sponsorship.

“So I reached out to them and see if they would be open to doing like a small sponsorship, or like drinks at my show. And they agreed to it, and it worked out amazing, and they really enjoyed the interactions with all my friends and family,” Shannon said. “I just enjoy that collaboration so much that when I came back down to visit, probably like, three months ago, I checked out their new location because they expanded because they’re doing so well and opened a new location from the ground up. And they wanted to keep that art theme to have some art in there. So I reached out to them after seeing their available space to have a show.”

The exhibit will be free to the public. The opening reception will be on June 3 from 5 to 10 p.m. Bringing it Back will be on display at Dirtbag Ales until June 30.

“Everyone’s welcome. Don’t feel judged. Art should be for the masses ... that’s kind of why I did it in more of a public area instead of a gallery,” Shannon said. “Galleries sometimes could make people feel a little bit secluded or cut off from society.”

More information about the gallery and the opening reception can be found at bit.ly/3wSQTqd.