Jonny Green’s oil paintings of haphazardly-made sculptures are part portrait, part still life. The UK based painter, who lives and works in London, describes his work as a combination of the “carefree and painstaking”, images of crudely built subjects made of a strange selection of items- modelling clay, office tape, flowers, Christmas lights, and whatever else is immediately available to him- which he then renders in incredibly meticulous detail.
Green admits that he was not always interested in sculpture, but a recent visit with family found him toying with old plasticine from his childhood one night. “I then photographed these weird little objects, using the materials available to me, i.e. kitchen towels as a backdrop, an old lamp as the only lighting. I was surprised by the power of the images and decided to try and make paintings from them,” he explains.
Though inanimate, his subjects appear surprisingly full of character, even off-putting, bringing to mind other artists who share a “grotesque” aesthetic, like Christian Rex van Minnen, Brendan Danielsson, and Gregory Jacobson. “There is something about the nature of little objects- their abject and pathetic demeanor, the fact that they appear to be trying to validate their existence with flowers and the draping of ribbons,” Green says, “it’s that anthropomorphism that makes them more than bits of old rubbish.”
Jonny Green’s work can be seen next in his solo exhibition “Bad to the Bone”, opening today, May 12th, at The Contemporary London.
The fantastic wire creations of Walter Oltmann seem both alien and familiar. The artist often calls upon the natural world and images from human history to explore themes of hybridism and mutation while referencing the rich traditions of South African craft-making. Born in 1960, Oltmann spent his childhood living in remote parts of the KwaZulu-Natal region, where he was first exposed to local handicrafts such as weaving and basket-making. Using wire as his preferred medium, the artist has become an expert on wire working and devotes himself to studying the influence of cultural traditions on contemporary South African art.