Meet Our Guest With Jonny Niesche

Portrait of Jonny Niesche. Courtesy of Jonny Niesche.

For this edition of Meet our Guest, our Paralegal Lily Kruglova spoke to leading Australian contemporary artist Jonny Niesche. Working across an expanded field of painting, sculpture and abstraction, Niesche has long worked with the intrinsic relationship between colour, form and light to produce formal and optically charged works that challenge our perception of space. He has exhibited at major institutions across Australia, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, and the National Gallery of Victoria. He is also recognised internationally, having held solo exhibitions in the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Greece, and beyond.

Having advised Jonny on his creative collaboration with Gucci, we at Guest Work Agency are excited to share more about his unique practice and artistic vision with our audience.

Jonny, how did you find your way into art? 

Art was always a huge part of my life. I spent hours every day dreaming and drawing, and from about the age of 8 I took drawing very seriously. I was taught by a Chilean family friend how to draw from life and how to render, and I continued up until the end of high school. Then music stole my attention and I moved to New York with aspirations of stardom. A decade later I returned to Sydney starless - I’d had enough of the music world. And then when I renovated my parents house and sold it for them, I did a painting on the for sale sign on a whim. And that was it. I was obsessed.

Tell us more about your background in music. How has the vibrancy of the New York music scene influenced your art practice? 

In New York I experimented a lot with sound in the recording studio. Manipulating sound waves is really exciting. And when you’re recording you’re creating a sonic landscape. In a way it’s like a moving aural painting or a spatial game, where you can make sounds like a voice come really far forward in the soundscape, or push others way back into the distance to try and create a completely immersive experience. When I paint I do the same thing, I make works that play with the notion of depth and space and that are (hopefully!) immersive. And the moire effect of the fabrics in my painting to me is like sound waves, they move and respond to your angle of intercedence in the room. I am also highly influenced by the fashion styles of certain musicians like David Bowie, and have used some of his cover album art and make up as starting points for colour palettes for a few series of works. 

You’ve described your art as having ‘a performative quality’, could you tell us a bit more about what you mean by this? 

It does not interest me to make images that are 2-dimensional and static. I make work that plays with perception. The works respond to changing light conditions in the environment in which they are exhibited, but also respond to the position of the viewer. If the viewer moves, the work also moves and responds, and that creates a kind of performative experience between the work, the viewer and the space.

Your collaboration with Gucci is now a reality, congratulations! Can you share a bit about how this project came about and what inspired your designs? 

In 2023 I had a solo show in Spain at Fundacion La Nave Salinas. Gucci was also hosting an event nearby and Truls Blaasmo, a curator who was putting together an exhibition for Gucci's new flagship store in London, was at that event. He came along to my exhibition, saw my work and asked if I would make something specifically for his London show. Then Sabato saw the work and asked Truls if I would be interested in collaborating. The idea was to use the classic Gucci motifs such as the GG Logo and the themes of animals, nautica, flora and so on. I was excited to see how we could collaborate to make images that celebrated both of our ways of making and thinking.

Gucci mural, featuring Jonny Niesche’s design (New York). Courtesy of Jonny Niesche.

What are your thoughts on artwork licensing? Were you surprised, (or perhaps not), about the process involved? 

I knew there would be some details to nut out. But I was surprised at how the tiniest of nuances in language have such different and specific meanings under licensing laws!

You use materials and digital tools in such innovative ways. How would you describe the role technology plays in your art? Do you enjoy exploring and experimenting with new technologies? 

I am interested in using technology in exactly that way, as a tool. When I discovered Photoshop it was exciting to test out image ideas really quickly without having to go through an entire manual process. And I can paint realistically, but why should I? We already have Gerhard Richter! In German the word for canvas is also the word for screen - painting is essentially color on a surface. So even though I employ digital technology I am definitely still looking through the historical lens of painting.

Looking ahead, how do you see your art practice evolving in the coming years? Are there any specific goals you’re working toward? 

I would love to keep enjoying my work as much as I do. It is a complete privilege and honour to get such satisfaction from what I do. It was exciting dipping my toes into the fashion world. Maybe some furniture too? Who knows.

We’re grateful to Jonny Niesche for sharing his insights and experiences. Stay tuned for more conversations with GWA clients and friends who are shaping contemporary culture.