Jonathan Monk

Jonathan Monk's imitations of well-known works of art, his reinterpretations and "cover versions" activate twists that are whimsical, personal or full of playful titles and references to famous artists such as Sol LeWitt, Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman and Andy Warhol, among others.

The auction's "Andy Warhol's Chairman Mao handmade in The Peoples Republic of China" by Jonathan Monk is a wonderful example of the use of the title of the painting and of the genre Appropriation Art. In fact, Jonathan Monk has had Andy Warhol's famous and valuable Mao original copied in China, through a highly qualified art student in 2008.

The original Mao portrait is immediately recognizable.
But Jonathan Monk has left "his own watermark" by emphasizing that this is an oil painting - not a silkscreen print on canvas. The philosophy of not making the artwork yourself, but giving it to a studio where artworks are copied every day, is reminiscent of Warhol.
(Andy Warhol got his most famous works of art produced by his staff at The Factory, close to Union Square in New York.)

The original idea comes from Warhol, but Jonathan Monk develops and delegates its implementation and production. The new painting is completely identical to its different colors and brushstrokes, which we recognize from Andy Warhol's original canvas from 1972.

Jonathan Monk is represented at Tate Modern in London, Guggenheim Museum New York, MoMA New York, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Los Angeles and Statens Museum for Kunst Copenhagen, among others.

Jonathan Monk exhibits regularly at Casey Kaplan Gallery in New York, Lisson Gallery in London, Loom Gallery in Milan and Nicolai Wallner Gallery in Copenhagen.