Galerie Ron Mandos is pleased to present three new exhibitions by Jonny Niesche, Brigitte Kowanz & Tomáš Libertíny. Jonny Niesche’s Electric Light Orchestra, an extensive exploration of painting, sculpture, and abstraction immerses the viewer in a rich sensory experience. His vibrant paintings showcase seductive, iridescent surfaces seemingly suspended above the voile canvas. Niesche’s prolonged focus on the interplay of color, form, and light results in optically charged works challenging spatial perception. Reflective gold and silver rims enhance the transformative beauty of his paintings, inviting viewers into an unexpected encounter with the artwork.
Tomáš Libertíny is a distinguished sculptor celebrated for ingeniously blending natural processes with artistic expression. His distinctive works embody a unique partnership with nature, particularly bees. In Of Time and Other Demons he is showcasing a fusion of human creativity and nature’s inherent craftsmanship.
In memory of Brigitte Kowanz (1957 – 2022), Galerie Ron Mandos presents the exhibition Another Time Another Place Another Place Another Time. Kowanz embraced light as her primary artistic medium, exploring its diverse qualities and manifestations through objects, installations, spatial interventions, and expansive environments. Utilizing illuminants such as neon, LED, and fluorescent cables, Kowanz’s works from the 1980s onwards delve into the intricate relationship between light and space. Her art allows viewers to perceive light as a distinct phenomenon, as a medium for conveying information, and as the very guarantor of information itself.
The exhibition was conceived in close collaboration with the estate of Brigitte Kowanz.
About Jonny Niesche
Jonny Niesche, born in 1972 in Australia, is a contemporary artist known for his vibrant abstractions that blend painting and sculpture. His unique art style involves using paint and reflective materials like glitter, mirrors, and translucent fabrics. Niesche’s pieces are dynamic, changing in appearance with the viewer’s position, challenging the concept of static art objects. He earned his Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2007 and Master of Fine Arts in 2013 from the University of Sydney.
Niesche’s work is heavily influenced by the teachings of Austrian artist Heimo Zobernig and the performative aspect of painting. His artworks, which can be wall-mounted or suspended, often display a geometric plane with a gradient of colors. His influences range from German artist Isa Genzken, color-field painters Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, and Minimalist artists Donald Judd and John McCracken, to the light and colors of Californian and Australian landscapes.
About Tomáš Libertíny
Currently living and working in Rotterdam, through his art, Tomáš Libertíny continually explores the beauty and intelligence of nature as well as probing into the existential questions of the human mind.
Born in Slovakia, the son of an architect and a historian, he studied at the Technical University Košice in Slovakia focusing on engineering and design. He was awarded George Soros’s Open Society Institute Scholarship to study at The University of Washington in Seattle, where he focused on painting and sculpture. He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava in painting and conceptual design. After receiving the prestigious Huygens Scholarship, he enrolled in the master’s program at the Design Academy Eindhoven where he received his MFA in 2006.
Libertiny’s fascination with the beauty and intelligence of nature fuels his work with timeless yet relatable emotions. The relationship between man and nature, both psychological and physical, serves as a constant source of inspiration.
About Brigitte Kowanz
Brigitte Kowanz (1957-2022) is known for her evocative sculptures, installations, and environments with a decidedly non-physical medium: light. Since the early 1980s, she has been exploring both the utilitarian and conceptual resonances of light with neon tubing, LED bulbs, aluminum, mirrors, and text. She draws upon such multidisciplinary sources as advertising, architecture, film, music, and the history of painting for inspiration. Through her use of mirrors, Kowanz aims to break down the boundaries between art and life, drawing viewers into her illuminated visions. Kowanz studied from 1975 to 1980 at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She has been Professor of Transmedial Art there since 1997.
