MATTHEW MONAHAN
Born 1972, Eureka, California; lives in Los Angeles, California

An exploration of the human figure— its insides and outsides, beauties and grotesqueries— unites the diverse work of Matthew Monahan. His large-scale transfer drawings, executed by incising carbon paper with a pencil, fork, or palette knife, are reminiscent of blueprints: architectural structures, abstract designs, and human bodies are densely arrayed on the surface like intricate cross-section diagrams. The precise, finespun subtlety of these drawings finds its counterpoint in Monahan's wildly inclusive sculptural assemblages, made of beeswax, floral foam, and encaustic and bedecked with glitter, hardware, twine, wire, and small objects (a tiny paintbrush, a five-dollar bill). The sculptures reference a profusion of sources, including Buddhism, the occult, robotics, classicism, and modern design: one figure alludes to the modeling in ancient Greek sculpture, and another recalls a voodoo doll.

LP

...read more about this artist in the Biennial Catalogue


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Installation view at Anton Kern Gallery, New York, 2005