Brooklyn Artist Jonathan Blum Celebrates 60th Birthday with Retrospective at Arts Gowanus

A Celebration of Four Decades of Distinctive Portraiture, Local Impact, and Artistic Independence

Brooklyn, NY — Beloved Brooklyn-based artist Jonathan Blum will celebrate his 60th birthday with a major retrospective of his work at Arts Gowanus, the renowned art gallery and cultural center. The exhibition opens with a reception on Thursday, June 19, from 6–10 pm, and will be open to the public daily from 2–7 pm, June 20 through July 6.

The show will feature both new works and key pieces from Blum’s decades-long career, showcasing the evolution of a singular artistic vision that has become deeply woven into the fabric of the Park Slope community. 

Event Details:

Opening Night Reception: Thursday, June 19, 6–10pm
Exhibition Dates: June 20 – July 6, 2025
Gallery Hours: Daily, 2–7pm
Location: Arts Gowanus’s temporary space at Gowanus Wharf, 240 3rd Ave. Brooklyn, NY

Admission: Free and open to the public

Jonathan Blum, Resident  Park Slope Artist, Celebrates 25 years in his 5th Ave. Storefront space, a 40-year painting retrospective and his 60th Birthday.

Blum traces the roots of his painting career back to a playful “forehead” cartoon—a self-portrait from the eyes up—created for STUFF Magazine in Boston in 1985. Since then, for over 40 years, he has steadily built a body of work that blends the whimsical with the profound, using portraiture to engage, disarm, and connect with his viewers.

Whether it’s a fictitious animal, a religious figure, or a whimsical dog with a watermelon on its head, Jonathan Blum’s portraits arrest the eye and invite contemplation. His unique blend of the fanciful and the realistic allows his work to resonate across audiences — from children’s nurseries to thoughtful collections of spiritual art. His paintings of rabbis, for instance, offer a warm and witty counterpoint to more traditional religious depictions.

Blum’s Park Slope studio at 285 Fifth Avenue—once an old thrift store—has become both a working art space and a community landmark. Opting for this unconventional storefront in 1999, Blum has since made and sold his work there, mostly painting late into the night. With a sign on the door reading “Open by appointment and by luck,” the space has attracted neighbors and art lovers alike, becoming an essential stop in the creative life of the neighborhood.

A native of Washington, D.C., Blum studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Emerson College. He has exhibited in Washington D.C., New Orleans, New York, London, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Prague, and more. Despite his global presence, Blum has never relied on gallery representation, instead choosing the direct, personal path of engaging the public through street shows, pop-ups, and his iconic Park Slope studio. 

“I’ve never sought out press,” said Blum. “I’ve been in a lot of gallery shows, but I’ve never had a gallery represent me. I’ve just been thinking about my art. I’ve sold in New Orleans on the streets, in Jackson Square, in Washington, DC and in Berlin and Prague. And I’ve always kind of just gone to the street, and I make a living—a good living this way, actually — because people generally like to buy from the artist. But after 40-plus years working as a professional, I do think it’s okay to take stock and have a retrospective like this. I’m grateful to the people at Arts Gowanus for giving me this opportunity to exhibit a retrospective which represents 40 years of my work.”

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