Jonathan Monk (b. 1969, UK) is known for his playful and thought-provoking approach to conceptual art. His practice includes sculpture, painting, photography, film, and installation, often engaging with the legacy of modernism, conceptual art, and the history of contemporary art itself. Monk’s practice is characterised by his reinterpretation of iconic works by influential artists, blending homage, critique, and humour to challenge notions of originality and authorship.
Monk is constantly asking ‘what next?’ His stainless steel series entitled Deflated Sculpture (2009) refigures Jeff Koon’s iconic balloon rabbit in various stages of collapse; letting the air out isn’t an act of iconoclasm so much as giving the original idea new life. So too Monk documented the period he lived in Los Angeles with a series of photographs titled None of the Buildings on Sunset Strip (1997–99), showing only the roads between buildings – a follow-up to Ed Ruscha’s artist book from 30 years before, All of the Buildings on Sunset Strip. But his conceptual configurations are also grounded in the personal: ‘what next?’ takes on a poignancy in the slide projection In Search of Gregory Peck (1997), where Monk brought together a collection of photographs taken by his late father in the 1950s, preceding him as a tourist in the US.
Jonathan Monk has had many critically acclaimed solo exhibitions around the world, including exhibitions at Palais de Tokyo (Paris) in connection with Musee d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Paris), ICA (London), IMMA Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), Haus am Waldsee (Berlin), Museum Kunst Palast (Dusseldorf), and Grazer Kunstverein (Graz). In 2009, Monk was invited to participate in the Venice Biennale by the Nordic and Danish Pavilion. Jonathan Monk’s works can be found in the collections of LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), MoMA (New York), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Tate Modern (London), the National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), MMK (Frankfurt), Kadist Art Foundation (Paris), Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Roma (Roma), FRAC des Pays de la Loire (Nantes), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) and Museo Tamayo (Mexico City) among many others. In 2019 Monk opened a solo exhibition at KINDL Centre for Contemporary Art (Berlin).
