Backside Brussels I, 2016

Jonathan Monk is a British artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. He creates photographs, film, sculpture and installation pieces which are thought to be humorous reinterpretations of works by Sol LeWitt, Ed Ruscha, and John Baldessari to name some. Monk often uses quotations to give new ideas to works viewed as seminal in their time, adding quirkiness to challenge the value of the artwork. Jonathan Monk's upbringing in a working class environment is viewed by some as his source for taking the artistic and adding the mundane in ways that encourage viewers to think differently about specific art pieces than they may have before. Jonathan Monk has works exhibited throughout the world. His Tears, 2005 photograph shows a passport photo with the eyes completely covered by a pair of drop earrings placed to represent tears. His Painting of a photo of a photo of a painting, 2008, has images of a purple vase filled with yellow sunflowers, both in photograph image and then drawn in markers. The greeting “Get Well Soon” is one of three witty, hand-lettered greetings included. These are only two of the pieces which have established Jonathan Monk's reputation as a humorist in the art world.