Desire Obtain Cherish

Jonathan Paul, aka Desire Obtain Cherish / DOC, is an artist who explores contemporary obsessions with drugs, gender, luxury, media and fame. Born in 1975 and now working under the alias D.O.C., Jonathan Paul emerged as a street artist in the early 2000s. Merging street, pop, conceptual, and appropriation art, D.O.C.’s cast resin sculptures are marked by a subversive edge, satirizing status symbols and revealing a commerce-driven social conscience. A stint at an advertising agency helped D.O.C. understand the psychology of communication and contributed to his marketing-driven ideas and artistic style, which boasts a glossy, modern finish and unexpected juxtapositions. His “Designer Drugs” (2013) series, for example, addresses the concept of a “shopper’s high” by featuring luxury brand logos on pill packets. “Heresy’s Cross” (2013) consists of crucifixes made of melting Hershey’s chocolate bars; the series calls attention to contemporary objects of worship.

Numerous key galleries and museums such as Unix Gallery, New York (26th Street) have featured Desire Obtain Cherish's work. Desire Obtain Cherish's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices almost reaching $35,000. Since 2016 the record price for D.O.C. at auction is $34,573 for Marilyn Crown, sold at Ravenel, Taipei in 2020. Desire Obtain Cherish has been featured in articles for The Art Newspaper and Hi-Fructose. The most recent article is What to See at New York's Spring/break Art Show written for The Art Newspaper in March 2019.