{"id":931,"date":"2010-12-16T12:29:42","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T17:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/?p=931"},"modified":"2025-02-09T15:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T20:55:11","slug":"matthew-monahan-at-anton-kern-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkarttours.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/16\/matthew-monahan-at-anton-kern-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Monahan at Anton Kern Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Matthew Monahan, “Seppuku.” Photograph courtesy of Anton Kern Gallery, New York.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a card-carrying member of the \u201cUnmonumental<\/a>\u201d generation of sculptors (he was actually in the New Museum show of that name), Matthew Monahan\u2019s latest freestanding bronze sculptures are both reactionary and a logical next step. His previous work consisted of installational displays crowded with objects and figures, idiosyncratic minimuseums chockablock with visual allusions to art history\u2014a Greco-Indian eye here, a Northern Renaissance visage there. At Anton Kern, Monahan distills archetypal characters from a jumble of references, creating a fascinating group that looks like archaeological finds from an alternative art history.<\/p>\n

One slender nude\u2019s wire-bound body recalls photographer Nobuyoshi Araki\u2019s soft-core titillations, but her quizzical expression is more provocative, suggesting spiritual superiority and\/or mental disability. Another character\u2019s cruciform pose begs explaining, but his craggy and practically concave face closes in as if guarding secrets. Nearby, a motionless, gold-leafed droid version of Umberto Boccioni\u2019s\u00a0Unique Forms of Continuity in Space<\/em>stands stiffly by.<\/p>\n

While Monahan\u2019s sculptures pique our curiosity with their mix of vague familiarity and uncertain identity, a series of oil-on-board images resembling tantric diagrams fairly exudes esoteric mystery. Collectively titled \u201cBody Electric,\u201d they summon Walt Whitman\u2019s passionate appreciation of the human form but feature a fairly unnuanced, everyman element: a simplified kind of line drawing made by scraping black-painted paper to reveal the white below. The sculptures, on the other hand, turn appropriation into creation with their affecting cast and enjoyable synthesis of history, pop culture and sheer invention.<\/p>\n

Originally published in Time Out New York, issue 793, December 9 – 15, 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a card-carrying member of the \u201cUnmonumental\u201d generation of sculptors (he was actually in the New Museum show of that name), Matthew Monahan\u2019s latest freestanding bronze sculptures are both reactionary and a logical next step. His previous work consisted of installational displays crowded with objects and figures, idiosyncratic minimuseums chockablock with visual allusions to art … <\/p>\n

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