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Sculptures, neons
& drawings
press release
Sculptures, neons & drawings
From September 3rd to October 16th 2004
Opening Friday September 3rd 2004 from 17-19.
It is a great pleasure to present Sculptures, neons & drawings,
an exhibition with new works by Jonathan Monk.
Jonathan Monk situates himself as part of a tradition and draws
upon a vocabulary firmly rooted in the Conceptual Art of the late
1960s and 70s. In his work he explores serialisation, the de-materialisation
of the object and other procedural approaches central to this period.
It is however a novel take on the classics, as Monk is not only
interested in questioning art itself but also searches his own identity
as an artist and a person. For Jonathan Monk art is part of life
and life is part of art and he tells stories, of art and life, mind
and body.
Like his predecessors Monk is interested in how art is created.
In The Title the artist explores the relationship between
work and title. By fossilising it into a solid work Monk suspends
the normal function of a title as supplement to the work. Cut into
stone, the title becomes a monument to itself. The sculptures The
space above my head have as starting points the physical form
of Jonathan Monk. They consist of a series of metal poles 2,5 meters
long either polished or glass-blown with the space above the height
of Monk marked out by a differing surface texture. Thus, the sculptures
function both as an attempt to give solid form to a conceptual space
and as a measure stick of the artist.
Monk's tracing of identity is marked both by nostalgia and romanticism.
In the work Neon Piece (Made With My Own Fair Hands), two
hands form a bird ready to fly away. As a comment to the making
art, the title refers both to the process of bending the neon tubes
and forming a bird as in shadow play. The other two neon works take
their cue from the name Jonathan Monk. In one work three lines in
neon form the artist's signature stretched to the length of his
height. In Blue Sentence Removed (O's Remain) (2004) the
artist has taken out all the letters in his name besides the O's
which stare out like a set of eyes. In both cases it is impossible
to make out the original point of departure without some sort of
previous knowledge.
Diamond Eyes? is a series of five drawings all featuring
the same simply sketched face with eyes made of jewelled studs.
The studs are hung in the eye height of the artist in that way becoming
a sort of conceptual self-portrait. One drawing is made with a pair
of diamonds and the rest is made with imitations. Monk questions
the imperative of originality within art and he seems to challenge
the viewer to decide what is real and what is not.
Claus Robenhagen September 2004
We are happy to welcome you in the gallery.
Galleri Nicolai Wallner
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