Each artwork simply begins with the brush of its creator, morphing into diverse narratives as its audience grows. Bold, bright, abstract and electric, Australian artist Jono Toh’s paintings offer a boundless space for imagination. His upcoming solo exhibition, You Tell Me, is an open invitation for everyone to dream up their own stories. “As far as the name goes, I want people to create their own narratives, their own associations when they look at my work, and have those personal connections. So I’m more interested in you telling me what you see, rather than I tell you what I see. There’s no right or wrong answer. Everyone has their own associations and emotional connections to shapes and colours.”
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As he puts it, Toh’s aesthetic world is less of a place built on rules and more so the visual result of asking an open-ended question. And while an eccentric mixture of interpretations is often what he expects, Toh is time after time, delightfully surprised by the reactions his work elicits.
“There was a couple, both very senior; one was a CEO of some company and the other was head of digital stuff. So, very serious people,” he recalls. “I presented them with their commission and the minute they stood in front of the painting, you just saw them take it down a notch because they know that’s what the art is about — it’s meant to be played with mentally. They were arguing going, ‘No, that’s a sock puppet! No it’s this, don’t be stupid how can you not see that?’ It was this very playful argument between husband and wife. I didn’t say a word, I literally stood back and watched this naturally unfold in front of my work. That’s what I wanted, those are the conversations I want to create.”
“They’ve since said that when people come over they still have these arguments, but now they engage with their friends and go ‘Do you see that? Who’s on whose side?’”
In wanting to forge an ongoing dialogue between his work and his audience, Toh’s social media offers a different context for which people can enjoy his art. His Instagram page is filled with videos of artistic creation, where viewers can witness the gradual transformation of a blank canvas into a precise map of Toh’s perfectly saturated shapes. For him, painting is more than just a creative process, it’s a healing one too.
“I do everything by hand. I don’t use tape, I don’t mask things,” says Toh. “Getting those lines absolutely perfect is anxiety-inducing for some people; people message me saying ‘Oh my God, watching that was so stressful!’ But I find it to be the complete opposite. I find it so relaxing and therapeutic. I reconnected with my love of painting during the pandemic, so I really found it to be a form of escapism and therapy where I can just zone out and completely focus on getting that one line absolutely perfect. Once that’s done, the rest of the world comes back into focus.”
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The artist credits this innate disposition towards immaculacy to his time spent working in the fashion industry. “I was in fashion for over 15 years, designing for a large retailer in Southern Australia before I moved to New York. So I was always very conscious of proportion, composition, design lines, where the eyes are being drawn, balance, and obviously colour theory and things like that. Those elements are just ingrained in me,” says Toh. “It’s just natural that when I look at something I think, ‘Is it balanced? Does it fit the composition?’ To my detriment sometimes like, ‘Argh, it’s not right!’ So those things have definitely translated into my art. The difference now is that I’m trying to achieve more of an emotional connection through this visual language versus when I was in fashion.”
Home for the past five and a half years, and now the site of his first solo exhibition as well, Hong Kong is of great significance to Toh. Though he admits to plans of leaving Hong Kong next year, he looks back fondly on the city and recognises it as an important source of inspiration throughout his journey as an artist. “When you think of Hong Kong, you think: financial hub, clubbing, party scene, which is what I used to do when I would come for work trips. But then you live here and realise ‘Oh my god, it’s built on a mountain!’ I think Hong Kong is such a vibrant city of contrast. From the crazy city to the nature, to the neon lights and the calligraphy, it’s all just so different. It’s very inspiring and entertaining, there’s never a dull moment just walking down the street,” he shares. “So when I’m going through life looking at everything around me, whether it be the architecture of Hong Kong or the natural wonders like the geopark in Sai Kung, or when I’m on a hike looking at the shadows cast by trees, I’m picking up on these kinds of shapes and imagery, making my own little playful narratives in my head as I go around.”
You Tell Me by Jono Toh runs from July 14 to 15 at HQ17, 17/F, H Queens, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
Translated by Alyanna Raissa J. Payos
Editor
Cathy HuangCredit
Courtesy of the artist
