Jonathan Monk
14 Oct - 04 Dec 2005
Jonathan Monk: Continuous Project Altered Daily
14 October – 4 December 2005
Continuous Project Altered Daily marks the first comprehensive survey of British artist Jonathan Monk and offers an extensive overview of his exceptionally prolific artistic practice. Over 60 artworks made between 1993 and 2005 will be on display including painting, sculpture, installation, photography, film and video work.
Monk’s diverse practice brings together two seemingly disparate histories: that of his own, and that of conceptual art of the 1960s and 70s. Autobiographical details, personal anecdotes drawn from his UK upbringing, tender and idiosyncratic portraits of his family, his mother Rita, his father Owen, and older sister Vanessa, the pet dog even the Leicester City Football Club are referenced apparently incongruously alongside the strategies and language of conceptualism and the work of artists such as Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha and Robert Barry. The key principles of conceptualism (the favouring of ideas over object-making, the dematerialisation of the art object, the production of work in series, in collaboration and often without a studio) are leveled and humanised by the quirky humour and down-to-earth sensibility of Monk’s working class family life. Beneath this playful, ironic take on art making, however, is a serious scrutiny of the very idea of art, its status , appearance and market value, as well as the myth of the artistic genius
The title of this exhibition is taken from an exhibition by US artist Robert Morris made in 1969 and describes the concept behind the display of works and to the way the presentation is constantly recycled and refreshed. Over a period of two months, the vast body of Monk’s work will be presented in sequence rather than in an edited selection within a single space and as a static display. A different show will, effectively, be curated every day and thus each visit will reveal a changed exhibition. The Lower Gallery of the ICA will act as an art ‘warehouse’ and contain all of the works involved in the exhibition, whilst the Upper Gallery will display individual pieces drawn from the ‘storage’, and will change on a daily basis within a classic white cube space. Consequently Continuous Project Altered Daily will not only trace the development of Monk’s practice through carefully constructed sequences of his work, but also, because of its perpetually transforming nat ure, function as a challenge to the usually static dynamic of traditional art presentation.
Continuous Project Altered Daily is part of a series of projects curated by ICA Exhibitions which attempt to radically revise the conventional format of the solo exhibition. Previous shows in this series have included John Bock’s Klutterkammer and Tino Sehgal's trilogy of works over three years (2005-07) at the ICA.
Born in Leicester, England in 1969, Jonathan Monk began his career in Glasgow, before moving to Los Angeles and Berlin, where he currently lives. His recent solo exhibitions include the Arnolfini, Bristol, England (2003), the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (2002) and the Contemporary Arts Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania (2001), among many others.
www.ica.org.uk
© Jonathan Monk: Twelve measurements in pink piece 2005; Enamel coated aluminium; Dimensions variable; Collection Beat Raeber, Basel, Switzerland
14 October – 4 December 2005
Continuous Project Altered Daily marks the first comprehensive survey of British artist Jonathan Monk and offers an extensive overview of his exceptionally prolific artistic practice. Over 60 artworks made between 1993 and 2005 will be on display including painting, sculpture, installation, photography, film and video work.
Monk’s diverse practice brings together two seemingly disparate histories: that of his own, and that of conceptual art of the 1960s and 70s. Autobiographical details, personal anecdotes drawn from his UK upbringing, tender and idiosyncratic portraits of his family, his mother Rita, his father Owen, and older sister Vanessa, the pet dog even the Leicester City Football Club are referenced apparently incongruously alongside the strategies and language of conceptualism and the work of artists such as Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha and Robert Barry. The key principles of conceptualism (the favouring of ideas over object-making, the dematerialisation of the art object, the production of work in series, in collaboration and often without a studio) are leveled and humanised by the quirky humour and down-to-earth sensibility of Monk’s working class family life. Beneath this playful, ironic take on art making, however, is a serious scrutiny of the very idea of art, its status , appearance and market value, as well as the myth of the artistic genius
The title of this exhibition is taken from an exhibition by US artist Robert Morris made in 1969 and describes the concept behind the display of works and to the way the presentation is constantly recycled and refreshed. Over a period of two months, the vast body of Monk’s work will be presented in sequence rather than in an edited selection within a single space and as a static display. A different show will, effectively, be curated every day and thus each visit will reveal a changed exhibition. The Lower Gallery of the ICA will act as an art ‘warehouse’ and contain all of the works involved in the exhibition, whilst the Upper Gallery will display individual pieces drawn from the ‘storage’, and will change on a daily basis within a classic white cube space. Consequently Continuous Project Altered Daily will not only trace the development of Monk’s practice through carefully constructed sequences of his work, but also, because of its perpetually transforming nat ure, function as a challenge to the usually static dynamic of traditional art presentation.
Continuous Project Altered Daily is part of a series of projects curated by ICA Exhibitions which attempt to radically revise the conventional format of the solo exhibition. Previous shows in this series have included John Bock’s Klutterkammer and Tino Sehgal's trilogy of works over three years (2005-07) at the ICA.
Born in Leicester, England in 1969, Jonathan Monk began his career in Glasgow, before moving to Los Angeles and Berlin, where he currently lives. His recent solo exhibitions include the Arnolfini, Bristol, England (2003), the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (2002) and the Contemporary Arts Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania (2001), among many others.
www.ica.org.uk
© Jonathan Monk: Twelve measurements in pink piece 2005; Enamel coated aluminium; Dimensions variable; Collection Beat Raeber, Basel, Switzerland