Jonny Green: Artist Q&A

Could you talk a bit about your background, and what inspired you to become an artist?

My inspiration to become an artist came very directly from an art teacher when I was 17 years old. I was completely directionless at the time when he took me to one side and suggested that art school might be a good path for me. I'd never received any encouragement from any direction about my talent for drawing, I guess it wasn’t something that could conceivably lead to any kind of viable career path.

I ended up studying an undergraduate degree in fine art at Norwich School of art, then winning a scholarship to go straight on to the Royal College of Art in London directly from there.After leaving my masters, I took a studio in London and worked full time as an artist for a few years, then, almost by accident a band I was playing in was signed to a recording deal with Atlantic records in the US. After that came another recording deal, a solo one this time with Mercury/Universal records in the UK and Europe. I spent a total of 10 years on tour and in recording studios, promising myself that I would get back to my painting studio.

I resumed painting again in 2010 and have managed to sustain a full time practice for the last 7 years.

Could you describe the development of your vision as an artist?

One of the cornerstones of my practice is that I've never allowed myself to become stuck in one specific visual cul-de-sac. At the moment I have three very separate avenues of investigation going on in my studio. That said, my main thrust at the moment, and for the next few years will be these abstract/geometric paintings. I've been searching for a way to make these essentially abstract paintings with my own painterly language for some time, previous works have been very precisely painted renderings of messy figurative sculptures that I've made, this new body of work continues this process but dispenses with the figuration. I’m extremely excited about what comes next.

What are the main influences for your work right now? What do you do, or where do you go to find creative inspiration?

As a model for how to push forward and keep my practice vital and exciting to myself, I’ve always looked towards Gerhart Richter. He was the first artist I became aware of who could push his output in many different directions without it ever seeming disjointed or incoherent.

Visually, I tend to always go back to classical, baroque and renaissance art.

What does the word ‘perfectionism’ mean to you?

That’s a tough question to answer. I suppose we all have our own definition of it. For instance I have a complete ambivalence towards modes of painting and art making that many people would call perfectionist. Hyper-realism does nothing for me whatsoever, all surface and no substance. For something to be perfect to me it needs to be perfectly authentic, but that could visually take an infinite number of forms.

What has your experience been like working on an online exhibition as opposed to a physical exhibition?

Interesting! Different in that without the usual PV and accompanying events there is an absence of that human connection, but that has been balanced out by an ongoing engagement from OAA and the curator.

What has been your most exciting or interesting lockdown discovery?

Lockdown has felt like a break/reset on many different levels. The ominous feeling that the art world will be changed forever has also opened up the possibility of things being done differently, and there are many positives that could come out of that. What is happening now in our industry reminds me very much of how the internet democratised the music industry, digital technology made it possible to sidestep the major labels and produce and distribute music by yourself. Exciting times.