JONNY NEGRON

The depiction of time, as it passes, as it wounds, as it changes the course of an existence, as it marks an era or else as it stretches out unendingly, has never been easy in art. Generally, too fleeting, the many attempts to represent it by painters like Claude Monet remain approximate and, today, only time-based media seem suited to accompanying artists int his quest. Yet, in the early 2020s, it was by using figurative painting that Jonny Negron gave form to what he calls “temporal sequences”. And his way of painting figures could not be clearer, more accessible and thus generous. Principally, this artist sets human figures in contemporary atmospheres, handling or holding everyday objects, cultivating a certain obsession with materialism. They obey an archetypal vision of humanity, which is seemingly simple and close to standard. There are also young, tall athletic men who all lookalike, voluptuous women with large eyes and artfully, though rather excessively, painted nails. The generosity and precision of the lines, the simplicity of the contours and an ease of appreciation characterise his pictorial work. While not attempting to depict complex personalities or moods, he employs a figuration which is seemingly naive to convey cryptic messages, which transcend an initially simplistic impression.

Text courtesy Crèvecœur, by Benoît Lamy de La Chapelle. Translated by Ian Monk.