Jonathan Monk, ‘The second back pocket piece,’ 2009Acrylic, paper, wood, screwsGermany, 2009Jonathan

Jonathan Monk is a British artist who lives and works in Berlin. His work is guided by an interest in appropriation and he believes that it is almost impossible to make a truly original work in today’s contemporary art world. To that effect, he borrows from others. This unique wall sculpture incorporates some of the foundational aspects of the works of the artist Arman. The Arman piece this most closely relates to is titledRauschenberg’s Refuse, 1970. It is a collection of garbage taken from Rauschenberg’s studio floor and entombed in a plexiglass case. In Monk’s version we have a plexiglass case shaped as a pant’s back pocket stuffed with candy wrappers, bits of papers and gallery business cards. This is a document of the artist’s life – his own personal accumulation of detritus and proof of being.

Jonathan Monk (British, b. 1969)

British artist Jonathan Monk re-examines seminal works of Conceptual and Minimal art by variously witty and ingenious means. With photographs, sculpture, film, installation, and performance, his works re-contextualize and rework these genres of art, often infusing them with Monk's personal history and working-class family upbringing. Monk humanizes his subject and brings a down-to-earth sensibility to the original works' utopian ideals. Monk has looked to artists such as Sol LeWitt, Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman and Lawrence Weiner as inspiration for his work. He received a BFA from Leicester Polytechnic in 1988 and an MFA from Glasgow School of Art in 1991. Solo exhibitions of his work have been organized by the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow (1992 and 1994), Museum Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf (2003), Institute of Contemporary Art in London (2005), and Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris (2008). His work has also been included in group exhibitions such as the Berlin Biennale (2001), Venice Biennale (2003), and Whitney Biennial (2006).

Condition

In overall very good condition with a few very minor scuffs to the acrylic.

Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.

Jonathan Monk is a British artist who lives and works in Berlin. His work is guided by an interest in appropriation and he believes that it is almost impossible to make a truly original work in today’s contemporary art world. To that effect, he borrows from others. This unique wall sculpture incorporates some of the foundational aspects of the works of the artist Arman. The Arman piece this most closely relates to is titledRauschenberg’s Refuse, 1970. It is a collection of garbage taken from Rauschenberg’s studio floor and entombed in a plexiglass case. In Monk’s version we have a plexiglass case shaped as a pant’s back pocket stuffed with candy wrappers, bits of papers and gallery business cards. This is a document of the artist’s life – his own personal accumulation of detritus and proof of being.

Jonathan Monk (British, b. 1969)

British artist Jonathan Monk re-examines seminal works of Conceptual and Minimal art by variously witty and ingenious means. With photographs, sculpture, film, installation, and performance, his works