Jonathan Monk UK, b. 1969

Jonathan Monk is recognized for his witty and ingenious reinterpretations of seminal works of Modern, Conceptual and Minimal art. In his aesthetic strategy, he deliberately oscillates between paying homage and persiflage. Having adopted appropriation as his artistic practice since the very beginning of his art in 1987, Monk's work frequently challenges the art world's conventional means of controlling contemporary art's distribution and value, while scrutinizing the rules of the exhibition industry and the aesthetic concepts of originality and authorship.

Monk confronts the contemporary dilemma of how to create art in the context of art history today. He realised that being original was almost impossible, so he tried using what was already available as source material for his works. Through this procedure of examination, modification and re-presentation, Monk ultimately succeeded in developing his own artistic theory. He reflects on contemporary art's propensity to function as a mere system of reference and dispels the idea that art is the outcome of a unique creative process. His originality lies in the space between the idea inherent in the new object and its actual objecthood. As Monk confirms, the idea of an original and a copy of an original are two very different things. 

Jonathan Monk was born in Leicester and currently lives and works in Berlin. He has held solo exhibitions at Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT (2025); Center for Contemporary Art,Tel Aviv, IL (2019); Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, CH (2016); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Roma, IT (2015); Centro De Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga, ES (2013); Palais de Tokyo and Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris, FR (2008). He has also exhibited at the Whitney Biennial (2006), the 50th and 53rd Venice Biennales (2003, 2009) and the Berlin Biennale (2001). His works are included in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, FR, the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR, the Mercedes Benz Art Collection, DE, the Israel Museum, IL, the TATE Modern, UK, MoMA, MoCa and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, US.