Noire Gallery is delighted to present: The Body Of Christ a new exhibition by Jonathan Monk made specifically for the Noire Chapel in San Sebastiano.
The four works included in the exhibition are Pizza Bianca I II III & IV part a new large scale edition by Jonathan Monk.
These works were developed with this intimate symbolic space in mind… a place that represents the artistic tradition of Noire Gallery.
Pizza Bianca are almost human sized, soft pizza shaped sculptures made of raw canvas, filled with polystyrene beads and cut into four slices. The complete edition is 10 the full pizza. The pattern for this work was taken from an inflatable toy the artist acquired from an Italian beach vender.
In a way it is a tribute to the famous American Pop Artist Claes Oldenburg, who with his soft sculptures made of padded, painted canvas and coloured vinyl confronted the viewer with giant sized popular food products. Monk’s sculptures are left raw… the canvas encouraged to develop its own patina.
Through various forms and mediums, Jonathan Monk, traces, replicates, re-interpret pre existing stories. The act of appropriation, constantly finds its way into the process of a new work and it is precisely by revisiting the works of others that his practice becomes almost like a provocation to concepts of authenticity, authorship of the works and their artistic value.
At Noire Chapel, the white pizza by Monk ironically becomes consecrated.
The artist’s ‘recreation’, with its double meaning of fun and makeover, brings back the past, recombining its elements by creating intelligent and light shapes at the intersection of art history and personal biography.
Special thanks to Massimo Minini
