The fetishistic work of artist Jonny Negron

Once we chanced upon artist Jonny Negron somewhere in the deep recesses of the internet (ok, Instagram), it was kind of hard to believe that we hadn’t hit upon his work before. The full-time artist, who lives in Austin, Texas by way of Puerto Rico and Long Island, makes heavily stylised, highly coloured, OTT drawings which were made to leap straight out of the screen.

“I had always held a fascination for things that were relatively unique,” he tells It’s Nice That. “My inspirations come from everywhere, from ancient hieroglyphics to anime.” The anime and manga influences in his work are very visible in the form his empowered, fetishistic women often dressed in figure-hugging clothes which could have come straight from a soho basement. “Sexuality is all around us, we all are a product of sex,” Jonny says. “For me, I depict the human body as the microcosm. I relate the nude, exposed body to the spirit. The feminine form represents creativity, the universal mother, nature.”

Of his working process, Jonny tells us: “I have accumulated a long list of conceptual ideas and reference materials that I usually draw from. Other times, I work in a more freeform manner and just sort of improvise based on what’s on my mind. I usually begin with a basic preliminary sketch or two, and from there I’ll paint or colour using ink markers.”