Continuous Project Altered Daily. 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.
Continuous Project Altered Daily
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 nature,
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.
Catalogue Editions:
A full color catalogue co-published by the ICA and Revolver, Frankfurt, to accompany
this exhibition will be available and will include an essay by Jens Hoffmann, ICA
Director of Exhibitions, a conversation between the artist, Robert Morris and Jens
Hoffmann, a text by Canadian artist Tim Lee, as well as full descriptions of all the
works on display by Claire Fitzsimmons, Curator ICA Exhibitions. As this catalogue
will record every day of the exhibition, the publication will be produced once the
exhibition has closed in December. Advanced orders can be placed with the ICA
Bookshop on +44 20 7766 1452.
On the occasion of his exhibition, Jonathan Monk has also produced two new editions,
which are available to buy exclusively at the ICA.
This special Limited Edition Print takes the renowned Ilford photographic paper as
its inspiration. The artist has appropriated the image from the lid of a box of
Ilford paper and reproduced this on 50 sheets of the paper that would typically be
within the box. This unique edition can be traced back to other Ilford photographic
pieces by the artist, including two which feature in the ICA’s exhibition.
One in Ten in One (Tree), 2005 and One in Ten in One (St Paul’s), 2004.
Picture Post Card Posted
From Post Box Pictured
The artist has produced a new postcard in a series which already includes those
created in New York, San Francisco, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Paris. The
postcard for the ICA exhibition features an image of the postbox in Waterloo Place,
the closest to the building. On buying a postcard, the address and message that the
visitor would like will be sent to the artist who will write this on the postcard.
The postcard will then be posted from the postbox pictured on the postcard.
Image: Jonathan Monk: Twelve measurements in pink piece 2005; Enamel coated
aluminium; Dimensions variable; Collection Beat Raeber, Basel, Switzerland
© Jonathan Monk, 2005
ICA
The Mall - London