JONNY NIESCHE

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“The reciprocal contact between us and objects or environments indeed occurs on the surface. It is by way of such tangible ‘superficial’ contact that we apprehend the art object and the space of art, turning contact into the communicative interface of public intimacy”.

– Giuliana Bruno, Surface

Jonny Niesche’s Stunt Double explores what we come into contact with when we encounter an art object. Combining materials from his recent large-scale installations, new approaches to his image-objects, and shapes and forms from his own archive, the exhibition builds on Niesche’s ongoing interest in how to generate aesthetic experiences that are visually haptic.

This new body of work uses forms and motifs that are familiar in Niesche’s practice – the mirror, the lozenge, the bar series, the frame – to think again about material, surface and image. Some forms are doubled, performing differently where they have been made from different materials. Some motifs are extruded where they have previously been flat, inviting us to experience a familiar image as an unfamiliar object. In some instances we encounter the mirror where we have before encountered the voile, creating a surface that brings us into contact with each other within the frame of the artwork.

In Stunt Double, Niesche affirms the surface as a valid site of enquiry, and invites us to experience the intimacy and tactility of looking.

– Mikhaela Rodwell, September 2026