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Jonathan
Monk
New
paintings
From May 12th
to June 16th 2007
Opening Friday May 11th 2007 from 17-19.
It is a great pleasure to present an exhibition with new paintings
by Jonathan Monk.
Jonathan Monk continues the exploration of art as idea first instigated
by the Conceptual artists of the 1960s and 1970s. The new and the
old cohabit peacefully in Monk's works that draw upon various points
of references to modern art history.
In a new series of paintings Monk pay homage to a seminal work by
Sigmar Polke from 1969. With a text that translates roughly like:
"Higher powers command: paint right top corner black!" the original
intent of Polke was to subvert the metaphysical connotations of
abstract expressionist painting. Remade by Monk the direction of
the text is taken even further as the artist apparently intends
to paint the corners all colours save black.
The process of painting is further inquired in two other series
of works. Using oil paint as a sort of adhesive to glue pieces of
paper onto canvas Monk presents works that happens over time as
the materials fuse together beyond the artist's control.
One series offers deadpan, typewritten explanations on how the work
was created. Another series uses vintage exhibition posters from
American Minimalist Frank Stella, whose hardedge aesthetics are
contrasted by the liberal amounts of underlying paint applied by
Monk.
The concept of recontextualising the works of another artist is
also employed by Monk in a series of paintings that are based on
different Ed Ruscha watercolours combined to form new meaning. Representing
a rather playful irreverence to Ruscha's originals these paintings
form exclamations that are both poetic and humorous.
Though obviously with a tongue in cheek and full of nostalgia for
the classical era of Conceptual art, Monk's work also deftly challenges
the notions of originality and authorship still present in art.
His art suggests ways of rethinking both the traditional role of
the artist and the creative process in general.
In 2006 Jonathan Monk had a touring solo exhibition "Yesterday,
Today, Tomorrow, etc.", which visited Kunstverein Hannover,
Kunstmuseum in St. Gallen, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, and Haus am
Waldsee in Berlin. During 2007 Monk will have two solo shows at
the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.
We are happy to welcome you in the gallery.
Galleri Nicolai Wallner
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