Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Pentti
Monkkonen and JP Munro in the project space.
JP Munroe and Pentti Monkkonen both share an interest in appropriating forms and
imagery from a classical art. By reenacting elements from classical art they can partially step out of the situation of contemporary art into personal interpretations outmoded tropes; the battle scene, the herm. By stepping into these forms they gain perspective on the situation of contemporary painting and sculpture, what has changed and what hasn't.
Their idiosyncratic use of elements of classical art lead more into abstraction than
allegory. They find the formalism of the classical and its mystical revelations. Despite
making an in depth look backward they cannot help to be in dialogue with their own
age."
Both Pentti Monkkonen and JP Munro live and work in Los Angeles. Monkkonen’s
work has been exhibited at the Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, 2007 and at the
Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, 2000.
Munro was included in the Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night, New York, and
exhibited at the ICA, London, 2004.