JONATHAN MONAGHAN embezzling the (un)real

edition

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JONATHAN MONAGHAN embezzling the (un)real

Embezzling the (un)real

by sarah corona

and control and its decay, a criticism of contemporary society controlled by the industry of consumption and new media. We are thus transported inside a Gothic church, the nave deprived of its roof. Huge moving penises monitor the hallway that surrounds the abode of the Sovereign, a giant penguin trapped in his own mausoleum. Forced to eat his descendants who beg grace before being greedily swallowed, French Penguin (2009) is an absurd and sad representation of power as a slave of itself, of the cycle of life and death determined by our own behavior, and in a sense a courageous critique of a male dominated society. Rainbow Narcosis (2012) starts with a playful and colorful song, appearing at first glance like a video game but soon delving into an ambiguous and disturbing spell of images and sounds. The head of a beheaded sheep invites us to a journey through absurd worlds, loaded with historical and artistic references. The section between the neck and head of the animal serves as a platform for landscapes, buildings, and entire cities. As guided by an imaginary camera, we fly through the Opera Garnier, a luxury metropolitan loft, an island floating in the air, and snowcapped mountains. The different worlds exist one in another as if in a Russian Matrioska, and the transition between them takes place in a way totally unexpected and extremely surprising. The background music, changing between a driving beat and melancholic mellowness, alternately creates tension and

I had a dream where I was floating in the air, surrounded by beheaded sheep, winged lions heads, weird birds, and floating castles. The background music reminded me of something that I couldnt classify, something between the music of a video game and the soundtrack of an action movie. I was continuously feeling an emptiness in my stomach, as if I was on a roller coaster, and although the scenery was very colorful and friendly, I felt a slight sense of anxiety. Sometimes I seemed to be in a fictional animation, in other moments as if I had splashed into a Salvador Dal painting, or maybe a Magritte. When I suddenly pinched my arm and felt real pain, I realized that I was not in a virtual world but contemplating the artwork of Jonathan Monaghan. The video animations by Monaghan tell us contemporary tales, funny and colorful, almost superficial, but at the same time based on a deep analysis of the history of art, politics, and social dynamics with an emphasis on former and actual power structures. Although the stories are very different from each other, we can recognize similarities the interpretation and reconstruction of monarchical structures, the exercise of power

relaxation in the viewer and leads the image to exude different sensations with passing time. The sheep that initially takes us on a peacefully journey through different scenery transforms into the assassin of its creator who is sucked into a black hole by his own invention, the Technology. Other references to the rise and decline of power structures and the psychological control of todays consumerism can be found in Sacrifice of the Mushroom Kings (2012). The protagonist, a character of a famous video game, wanders through the deserted buildings of former Wall Street banking titans. As in a ghost town, there is nobody around, and the total absence of life creates an atmosphere of fear. Besides the appearance of a hybrid cow-angel, the only thing left is a golden bull, fighting to establish himself as the commander of the arena, symbolizing the marketplace. In the end, he sadly loses his life in front of the stunned soldier. In the more recent Robot Ninja (2013), the environments are becoming more abstract and the spirit more masculine, almost macho, yet the recurring symbols from the other video works; the crown, the sheep, Baroque / Gothic elements, the rainbow, symbols of famous brands, and hospital furnishings highlight Monaghans analysis and transposition of other levels of historical or cultural meanings. In fact, the organizational principles of his works are an ideological criticism of todays society. Monaghan often reverses

the meaning and function of objects and characters, embezzling not only the elements and protagonists of pop culture, advertising, consumerism, and new media, but also their subconscious strategies that elicit a particular response in us. The immediate familiarity granted by images from our cultural heritage mediates the surreal foreignness of his aesthetic. It is this combination that makes his works so magnetizing. Monaghan defines our contemporary society not as self-contemplative, as suggested by Siegfried Kracauer, but rather medicated, anesthetized by the surplus of information, products, and technological possibilities that go far beyond the capabilities of neuronal processing by our brain. Through his works, he thus provides a new opportunity to get in touch with ourselves. His ornamental exaggeration and artificial constructs force us to wake from a coma of indifference and into a state of deeper self-reflection.

Sarah Corona attended University in Bologna, Italy, where she obtained her BA in Fine Arts and a MFA in Communication and Management of Art. Based in New York, she works as independent curator, art historian and journalist for international art magazines with a focus on the intersections between technology and art.

A Brief Technological and Historical Note

by jeremy couillard

utilize professional tools for free and from the comfort of a family living room. It was in this arena that Jonathan Monaghan established his aesthetic sensibility. His generation were the first natives of this popularized, computational 3D space. Moving around it and being creative through it seemed natural. Jonathans first artistic interests were not traditional painters, sculptors or even video artists, but video game designers such as those of SimCity and

Amidst the success of early video game systems in the late 80s such as the Atari, a small team called the Yost Group released one of the first 3D rendering, modeling and animating programs for the personal computer: 3D Studio. Also during this time home computers were beginning to talk with each other through a vast, labyrinthine structure of interconnected phone lines. Networked, computational space was becoming a growing frontier. Those who felt comfortable foraging through this disorienting new terrain were able to shape a new culture suitable to their interests. Expensive software such as later versions of 3D Studio was freely traded -- its registration numbers cracked, its code and graphics hacked and customized. By the time America Online (AOL) began in the 90s, with its massively populated chat rooms and early version of the Web, software piracy was in full bloom. Thousands of dollars of cracked programs and video games could be mailed to your inbox from chat room bots. AOL accounts could be purchased with a simple, fake credit card algorithm. Anyone with a computer and a phone line could

the first person shooter, Counter Strike. He was able to pirate the creative software they were using and games they made-studying, modifying and quickly mastering their approach. By the time Jonathan was in high-school his images created with 3D Studio Max were already being featured in training manuals and his video game environments were widely distributed. But rather than pursuing a commercial, entertainment or technical career in 3D modeling, Jonathan was always more interested in its ability to work in the analogical space of contemporary art, specifically in video art as well as sculpture through 3D printing. He has the same training and interest in art history and fine art fundamentals as any young contemporary artist with a MFA. The means to his end emerged not through a paint brush or physical video camera but through the complex manipulation of pixels using 3D software. In this sense he is not a computer artist or a 3ds Max artist, but just an artist. By having screenings and white cube art shows all over the world, Jonathan, along with other

artists such as Jon Rafman, Brenna Murphy and Takeshi Murata, has helped to pull this art form from the ghetto of new media art and into the domain of Art.

Jeremy Couillard is a New York-based artist working with computer graphics, sculpture and painting. He received his MFA from Columbia University and currently is showing with Louis B. James Gallery in New York. Recently he has had videos in screenings such as MonkeyTown3 at Eyebeam and the Glitch Festival in Dublin, Ireland.
sd_force 2002 by Jonathan Monaghan Official Firearms Half-Life modification map

Sony Building 2001 by Jonathan Monaghan custom content for SimCity 3000

Amsterdam Street 2003 by Jonathan Monaghan

Mothership
2013 CGI animated HD film 15 minutes

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Robot Ninja
2013 exhibition at Market Gallery, Glasgow single channel video installation with HD CGI animation, inkjet prints, 3D printed sculpture

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Rainbow Narcosis
2012 CGI animated HD film 9 minutes

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Sacrifice of the Mushroom Kings

2012 exhibition at Curators Office, Washington D.C. single channel video installation with HD CGI animation, framed Fuji C-prints

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Dauphin 007
2011 CGI animated HD film, 3 minutes 14 seconds

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French Penguin
2009 CGI animated HD film 2 minutes 34 seconds

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bio
Jonathan Monaghan (born 1986, Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York) received his BFA from the New York Institute of Technology in 2008 and his MFA from the University of Maryland in 2011. He has completed residencies at MakerBot Industries in Brooklyn, Seven Below Arts Initiative in Vermont, Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, and Culturia in Berlin. He is the recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant and was a U.S. Speaker and Specialist selected by the U.S. Department of State to speak on 3D printing abroad. He has given lectures and workshops at the Glasgow School of Art, the University of Denver, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Bennington College. His work has been featured in the Washington Post, Metropolis M, TimeOut NY, the Colbert Report and NYC TV. Monaghan is represented by Curators Office in Washington D.C.

video clips from all work in this catalogue can be viewed on www.jonmonaghan.com Robot Ninja installation photos by Ingrid Mur

2013 Jonathan Monaghan Published by Curators Office, Washington D.C. www.curatorsoffice.com

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abridged cv
solo exhibitions 2013 Robot Ninja Market Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland 2012 Rainbow Narcosis Artisphere, Arlington, VA Sacrifice of the Mushroom Kings Curators Office, Washington D.C. 2010 Life Tastes Good In Disco Heaven Hamiltonian Gallery, Washington D.C. 2009 Calling All Angels Atopia, Oslo, Norway group exhibitions & screenings 2013 Office Denver Digerati Commission, Denver Theatre District, Denver, CO oh Internetz! curated by Nora O Murch, Run Computer Run, Glitch Festival, Dublin, Ireland Market Gallery Off Site Shorts Glasgow Film Festival, Glasgow, Scotland Childs Play curated by Mindy Solomon, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL

2012 NEWSFEED curated by Jessica L. Moore & Nelson Nance, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, Brooklyn, NY 2011 onedotzero_adventures in motion BFI Southbank, London, UK 2009 Academy 2011curated by Jamie Smith & Leigh Conner, Conner Contemporary, Washington D.C. AW Projectscurated by Daria Shapiro, Scope Art Fair, New York, NY Anthropomorphlolz San Francisco International Animation Festival, San Francisco, CA Loving You Is Cherry Pie 4Culture / e4c, Seattle, WA FILE Media Art Centro Cultural Fiesp, Sao Paulo, Brazil A Light at the End of the Tunnel curated by Lee Wells Scope Basel, Basel, Switzerland WPA: Experimental Media Series curated by Kelly Gordon, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. Vox V curated by Ryan Trecartin & Larry Mangel, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA

2008 Digital Stone: eForm Today Art Museum, Beijing & Shanghai Doulun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China

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