Jonathan M Larkin

BIO/ARTIST STATEMENT

Jonathan M. Larkin
b. 1983
Attleboro, Massachusetts

Engaging museums and archives, I combine contemporary methods of reproduction with historical techniques to transform old forms into new narratives. Reproduction, for me, does not diminish an object’s significance; rather, it is a meaningful cultural practice that deepens our ability to make sense of history and to understand the contemporary world as it is reshaped by technology and an abundance of information.

I currently live and work in Worcester, Massachusetts.

JL@thejazzrobotstudios.org
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Education

Clark University, painting and sculpture MFA(candidate)

Art Students League of New York, painting and printmaking

School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, painting and sculpture

University of Arizona, horticulture

Arizona State University, anthropology B.A.

Exhibitions/Performances/
Publications/
Presentations

2025

Gypsoteque #1: Through a Looking Glass
The Worcester Art Museum
Worcester, MA

The Jazz Robot
The Hotel Vernon
Worcester, MA

Photogrammetry
Clark University
Worcester, MA

Image Transfering
Shrewsbury Public Library
Shrewsbury, MA

2024

Unseen Works
Jean McDonough Arts Center Worcester, MA

Music for 32 Pianos
Jean McDonough Arts Center Worcester, MA

Medieval Khorasanian Bronze
Clark University
Worcester, MA

Painting Outside, Metal Casting
The Shrewsbury Library
Shrewsbury, MA

2023

The Jazz Robot Duo
Electric Haze
Worcester, MA

Forward Motion
TJR
Worcester, MA

12 Poems About Birds, Bronze, and Other Things
TJR
Worcester, MA

2022

The Jazz Robot: Blast Off!
Candy Records
Phoenix, AZ

The Jazz Robot: Improvisations for 5 Musicians and A Computer
The Trunk Space
Phoenix, AZ

Nice Cosmic Voyage
The Lost Leaf
Phoenix, AZ

Duos
The Sprinkler Factory
Worcester, MA

2021

Trios
Sprinkler Factory
Worcester, MA

Forward Motion
TJR
Worcester, MA

The Jazz Robot: Improvisations for 5 Musicians and A Computer
The Trunk Space
Phoenix, AZ

Nice Cosmic Voyage
The Lost Leaf
Phoenix, AZ

2020

Music for People in Different Places
TJR Studio
Worcester, MA

2019

Plants and Prints
Larkin Plants
Laconia, NH

Aquaponics
Larkin Plants
Laconia, NH

2018

Le Jazz Robot
TJR Studios

The Jazz Robot: Live!
PFDS
Pittsburgh, PA

2017

Enflourage
The International Lilac Society
Boston, MA

2016

Solo Saxophone
Nubian United Benevolent International Association
Boston, MA

2015

Paradise Garden
ISBCC
Boston, MA

2014

Suakin
TJR
Boston, MA

2013

Various Performances
city band
Atbarra, Sudan

What Is Jazz Music?
Larkin Institute
Atbarra, Sudan

2012

Sudanese National Anthem
Nile Valley University
Atbarra, Sudan

2011

Hejhouj on the Beach
Winthrop Beach
Winthrop, MA

2010

Student Show
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, MA

Norwouz Celebration
Boston University College of Fine Arts
Boston, MA

2009

The Jazz Robot
The Lily Pad
Cambridge, MA

The Human Mirror Project
Blue Mondays
Brooklyn, NY

2008

Phoenix New Times Best of Jazz Phoenix, AZ

The Jazz Robot
residency at The Lost Leaf
Phoenix, AZ

Woodwind Quartet
The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Scottsdale, AZ

Professional Experience

Horticulturalist
Larkin Plants
2016-present

Gardener/Educator/Grant Writer
Nubian United Benevolent Association
2013-2016

Middle School Teacher(ELA and Social Studies)
Malek Academy
2012-2014

English Language Teacher
Nile Valley University Faculty of Medicine Atbara, Sudan
2012-2013

Exhibit Interpreter
Boston Museum of Science
2011

Rug Cataloging and Photographing Noor Oriental Rugs
2010-2011

Horticulture Intern
Plimouth Patuxet Museums
2010

Horticulture Intern
Tucson Botanical Gardens
2009

Skills

Metal casting, mold making, painting, photography, 3D imaging, saxophone, bass (double and electric), piano, digital editing.

Last Updated 24.10.31

RECENT WORKS

Gypsoteque #1: Through a Looking Glass

Plaster, encaustic, gold, lapis, linen, ash

2025

On view at the Worcester Art Museum

Gypsoteque is an ongoing series that uses contemporary technologies to remake museum artifacts. Through 3D scanning, printing, molding, casting, and surface treatments, the originals are transformed into new objects that echo their past while forming new narratives. The series explores ownership, memory, materiality, and perception — what it means for an artifact to survive, change, or be remembered.

Undeniable Physical Evidence

Found photographs

2025

Historical photographs of archaeological finds held in museum archives have themselves become objects of archaeological interest—material evidence of the complexities of museum acquisition and of the camera’s ability to track a place or thing through time. Printing and displaying these photographs alongside contemporary assemblages of reproduced museum objects generates a powerful tension: how much of a thing can remain present when the thing itself is absent?

Aigrettes

Digital scans of solvent transfer

2024

Subjecting photographs of valuable objects—hair ornaments held in the British Museum—to processes of both destruction and reproduction draws attention to the nature of value and the preservation of information.

The Price of Gold

Digital scan of solvent transfer

2014

Gold, vessels, and camels dissolve into one another, evoking the intangibility of value and the shifting nature of trade.

Emily Harvey
EARTHLY WORKS, 1988

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Wie Venedig Sehen
Lothar Baumgarten, 1984

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