How can I buy a work by Jonathan Gainer?

Bruno David Gallery handles the sale of available works by Jonathan Gainer. For prices and availability, email info@brunodavidgallery.com or call +1 314 696 2377.

Where can I see work by Jonathan Gainer in person?

At Bruno David Gallery, 7513 Forsyth Boulevard, Saint Louis, Missouri 63105, during public hours or by appointment.

What does Jonathan Gainer make?

Large-format photographic works composed from drone photography of Gulf cities, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi, printed as dye-sublimation prints on aluminum. His series AEROGLYPHS treats the city as a writing system of “cityglyphs.”

Where is Jonathan Gainer based?

Jonathan Gainer lives and works in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Has Jonathan Gainer had an exhibition at Bruno David Gallery?

Yes. AEROGLYPHS: De-code | Re-code (16 January to 21 February 2026) is one of his exhibitions at the gallery. Catalogues can be read in the gallery’s Publications library at brunodavidgallery.com/publications.

Jonathan Gainer

Jonathan Gainer is a Dubai-based photographer who builds large-format wall works from drone photography of Gulf cities, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi. His series AEROGLYPHS approaches the city as a writing system: buildings, towers, domes, and waterfronts become what he calls “cityglyphs,” signs through which a city encodes its culture, beliefs, and ambitions. The works examine urban spectacle without simply celebrating or rejecting it.

Each image starts as aerial photography that Gainer captures by drone under aviation protocols. He then composes the final picture through masking and blending, and the finished works are dye-sublimation prints on aluminum. The chain of production remains strictly photographic, without AI or CGI. The work engages debates about the urban sublime, the ethics of images, and the place of photography amid synthetic imagery. The series also includes a short single-channel video, Ad Astra Dubai (2025).

Gainer studied international relations, French cultural studies, and philosophy and comparative literature at American University, the Sorbonne (Paris IV), and the Freie Universität Berlin. He spent years as a screenwriter in Berlin and more than a decade as a filmmaker and stills photographer in the Middle East, where his professional history includes early aerial cinematography and work on productions and commissions. In Dubai he co-founded the studio Surface Photography and is director of photography at Surface Aerials.

AEROGLYPHS: De-code | Re-code, Gainer’s first solo exhibition with Bruno David Gallery, was on view in St. Louis from 16 January to 21 February 2026, and on 7 February he joined, by video, a gallery talk with Daniel Raedeke, Charles Turnell, and Bill Christman, whose exhibitions ran at the same time. In January 2026 an entry under the same title placed third in the Global Digital Art Competition of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. In February 2026 he won the photography category of the NVIDIA Studio Creative Challenge, and the winners’ work was shown at NVIDIA Studio Nights 6, held at the Museum of the Future in Dubai. The catalogue Aeroglyphs (2026) is available in the gallery’s online catalogue library.

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