JONNY NIESCHE

Niesche manipulates the viewing experience, rather than the object being viewed; Hovering identifies the action the artist assigns to our encounter. He shapes our perceptions and alters our visual imagination. Inspired by the work of Robert Irwin and the Mark Rothko retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Niesche’s paintings extend from their interiors and out across their environment. Like Irwin’s discs, or the AbEx notion of an all-encompassing, allover field, the paintings somehow evade their rectangular confinement and extend past their own boundaries. Rothko was determined to raise painting to the level of music and poetry, and Niesche embraces this same task. Colours levitate, metamorphose in a monochromatic fusion, and the paintings defy the static nature of a two-dimensional object fixed on a wall. They come to life and begin to breath in a world outside of painting, acting more like a symphony or choreographed movement. They begin to dance, sing, and play with one another, and with their audience. At first encounter, the paintings are still, fixed in a steady pause. Then, an element of magic enters the room, and they begin to rock, sway, and rupture, placing us within a new visual apparatus. We hover above, below, within and around the work. Hovering is as much a part of the paintings as their own substance.

Jonny Niesche (b. Sydney, 1972) lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Recent solo exhibitions include 1301SW, Sydney (2024); Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2023); Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2023); Fundación La Nave Salinas, Ibiza (2023), WestLotto, Münster (2022); 1301PE, Los Angeles (2021); The Hole, New York (2021); Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (2021); Starkwhite, Auckland (2020); Station Gallery, Melbourne (2020), Zeller van Almsick, Vienna (2020); Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney (2019); LUNDGREN Gallery, Palme De Mallorca (2019) and Peter Von Kant, London (2017). He was recently chosen as the artist for the 2024 Munich Opera Festival. Niesche’s work has also been included in notable exhibitions in a number of Australian institutions, including Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2019); Casula Powerhouse, Sydney (2019); Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2019); ArtSpace, Sydney (2017); National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2016) and Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2016).