William Monk holds first solo exhibition in Asia at Long Museum

"Psychopomp," artist William Monk's first museum solo exhibition in Asia, is showing at Long Museum (West Bund) through March 24.

The show consists of 19 paintings created by Monk between 2019 and 2023. Produced over the last four years, the canvases are as autobiographical as they are abstract. Having lived in cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, and New York, much of the work in this exhibition was made in his studio in London where he was quarantined during the pandemic, and his studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Born in 1977, Monk is known for his vibrant compositions that feature mysterious and otherworldly forms. Monk was awarded the Dutch Royal Award for Painting in 2005 and the Jerwood Contemporary Painters award in 2009.

Now the artist lives and works in New York.

His paintings are abstract and strangely recognizable, even if the viewer just grasps at visual symbols in hopes of finding clarity or familiarity. His thin applications of paint are a gauzy curtain that if shifted would reveal a window into a new or different world.

For example, in his painting "The Ferryman" (2019-2022), Monk conjures what could be figures, sculptural and unnamed, that emerge from landscapes only defined by color fields. Warm pinks, rusty brick-colored reds, earthen hues, and pastel blue in conglomerate form a mountainous triangular shape. Centrally placed, architectural figures sit or stand right on the edge of the canvas. With titles such as "Underworld Psychopomp (The ferryman)" (2020-2022), and "The Ferryman (Ship of fools) (2019-2022), the artist allows for a vagueness or distance that is just far enough for inquiry and wonder. The "ferryman," according to Monk, "emerges from dissecting the cover artwork from the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, a metaphorical symbol of youth."

Parallel to "The Ferryman," a series of circular canvases are on display.

These paintings between the shades of bright yellow, pink and deep violet, at first glance, look like large pupils or the globular expanse of the sun. The circular paintings seem to embody or summon a far-off star. If the "Ferryman" pieces are grounded, these are ethereal without gravity. The circular forms are an illusion of classic perspective, each surface becoming slightly smaller, traversing space. The artist moves his brush lyrically on each surface, as if through a hallucinogenic lens, a distant memory, or a recurring dream.

Exhibition Info:

Date: Through March 24 (closed on Mondays), 10am – 5:30pm, from Tuesday to Thursday, 10am – 8pm, from Friday to Sunday

Venue: Long Museum (West Bund)

Admission: 100 yuan

Address: 3398 Longteng Avenue

龙腾大道3398号