Multiple Locations Milan
12/04/2023 – 13/05/2023
multiple editions by Jonathan Monk at 23 sites on and around Via Nicola Antonio Porpora, Milan.
Jonathan Monk, business card at Loc2026
business card
2016
digital print on white cardboard
5 x 9 cm
unlimited, unsigned and unnumbered
special project for the exhibition 66/16 at Astuni Gallery, curated by Lorenzo Bruni
The Loc2026 Hub is a space, which opened recently to inform people about a development project, the transformation of Piazzale Loreto into a sustainable living area, which is supposed to open just in time for the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. The space invites people to participate with ideas to the project. The topic of transformation is also part of Jonathan Monk’s business card, which can be found here, in a wider sense.
It states only his name, profession, his birth year and already has a cross printed on it, pointing to the harsh but absolute truth that his life too will eventually come to an end. The offcial Hashtag for Loc2026 is #reconnectingpeoplewithnature – from ashes to ashes, from dust to dust.
Jonathan Monk, meeting point #56, 2009 at Bar Britannia
Meeting #56
2009
two drinking glasses, printed with a bilingual invitation, in a box
18 x 19 x 9 cm
Ed 90
30 of which signed
published by Mercer Union, Toronto
As a sign outside of Bar Britannia tells us, Lucio Fontana lived in the same building between 1951 and 1968. We can assume that he was from time to time in the space, which is nowadays this bar, however we will not fnd evidence inside of it. But on the shelves of Bar Britannia Martini Glasses sit neatly side by side, alongside two glasses designed by Jonathan Monk. Ask the barkeeper to get a closer look at them.
They invite us in French and English to a meeting on „The Maid of the Mist, Niagara Falls on August 1st, 2015, noon“.
A meeting which was supposed to take place in the future, but today is lying in the past. History is inscribed in Bar Britannia, even if not visible at first glance.
Jonathan Monk, Miele Luna, 2015 at Ceremonia Fashion Sposi Milano
Miele Luna
2015
papier-maché, in a box
20 cm diameter
Ed 10 + 2 AP
each unique, signed and numbered
published by Noire Edition, Torino
Jonathan Monk’s Miele Luna is made out of old newspapers used by Italian street vendors to stuff fake designer bags. It is a direct reference or, following the logic of its title, translation of Franz West’s multiple Honeymoon.
At Ceremonia Fashion it shares its space with wedding dresses that emphasise the romantic connotation of this moon, for one thing.
On the other hand, somewhat unromantic parallels emerge between the textile uniforms and the associated ideas of love and marriage to the inscribed topic of replicas, those of Franz West and those of the supposed designer bags.
This moon can only be seen during the day when the shop opens its rolling grilles.
Jonathan Monk, At some point in…, 2022 at Materassi Argentina Giorgio
At some point in…
2022, ongoing series
digital print on cardboard
7.4 x 10.5 cm
unlimited, unsigned
self-published documentation of twelve events
For over a year, Jonathan Monk has been publishing small cards that report of the artist spending a night with a certain piece of art under his bed. Like in January 2022 with Richard Hamilton’s Guggenheim (White), 1970, in May with Louise Bourgeois‘ Ne Pense à Rien, 2005 or in June with Gino De Dominici’s Senza Titolo (Collage), 1971. The cards each have the same format but colour and font seem to match the respective artworks. Jonathan Monk, who, like perhaps no other artist, appropriates the art of others in a playful way and with full recognition of them, underlines this once again with these cards.
At Materassi Giorgio Argentini we have to fnd those treasures like a burglar between the mattresses ourself.
Jonathan Monk, Somewhere Soon, 2010 at Barber Milan
Somewhere Soon
2010
Screenprint on cotton, folded in a cardboard box
120 x 150 cm
Ed 40 + 6 AP
Co-published by Alice Travel and Florence Loewy, Paris
The green coats that protect customers from their falling hair meet a green textile work by Jonathan Monk at Barber Milano.
Somewhere soon quotes Lawrence Wiener without using his signature font. This editing brings the conceptual poetry behind the words to the fore. And in a barber shop, „A time and a place at some point in the future“ seems like a universal truth behind this global business model. At some point we all go to the hairdresser.
Jonathan Monk, Meeting Point, 2005 at La Cantina del Sapori
Meeting Point
2005
Enamel on metal
27 x 27 x 3 cm
Ed 20 + 3 AP
Published by Alice Travel, Paris
At La Cantina an enamel sign with the words Meeting Point is placed. Since 1999 Jonathan Monk is making artworks which propose a potential meeting in the future. If one buys the piece, the person gets a certifcate that states „The artist will meet the owner of this piece at the place and time stated above. It is important to understand that the work, Meeting, is the actual rendezvous and not the invitational text that proceeds it. It is also important to realise that like all meetings, there is a possibility that this meeting, will not be met.“ Meetings have and haven’t been met in the past, but here Jonathan Monk‘ s Meeting Point is issuing an invitation to meet to anybody who enters La Cantina.
Jonathan Monk, Magnetism in Black and White, 2020 at Punto Uffizio Affiliato Buffetti
Magnetism in Black and White
2020
Silkscreen on C-MAT, 10 white and 10 black magnets
94 x 68 cm
Ed. 25 + 5 AP
Published by MOREpublishers, Brussels
Punto Uffcio Affliato Buffetti offers all kind of offce supplies, which are set in a dialogue to Monk’s Magnetism in Black and White.
The idea behind this work can be compared to this behind the works in the other stationary shop of Multiple Location in Milan – Picture Post Card Posted From Post Box Pictured at Papermoon – it is what it is.
Here the work gets completed through the person fxing it with the portrayed magnets on the wall.
Jonathan Monk, Untitled (Storage), 2022 – 23 at Ferramenta Oldani
Untitled (Storage)
2022 – 23
Screenprint on invercote paper
29.7 x 42 cm
Ed 23 + 7 AP
Published by MOREpublishers, Brussels
Between iron angles, U profles, hinges and a range of tools hangs Jonathan Monk’s Untitled (storage) at the traditional hardware store Ferramenta Oldani. It shows a screenshot of Donald Judd Furniture’s website, where the artist’s furniture can be ordered. Jonathan Monk added a note to the descriptions: „Almost no storage“. The note next to the minimalist beauty of Judd’s design seems almost provocative, but reveals the gap between pragmatic and aesthetic decisions in everyday life. A question the customers of this shop have to ask themselves on a regular basis. The comparison to the shop’s own work of art should also be mentioned here. This shows an idealized industrial building in bright colors – form follows function, not here either.
Jonathan Monk, Hand painted by Hand, 2015 at Caffè Porpora
Hand painted by Hand
2015
Gouache on digital photographic paper
26.7 x 19 cm
Ed 25
Published by Camden Arts Centre, London
On the wall of Bar Porpora, artworks that have always hung there meet the work Hand Painted by Hand by Jonathan Monk.
A hand-painted edition for which Jonathan Monk has painted over the background of photos by Bas Jan Ader. Monk breaks the homage to the Dutch artist through the pragmatic title. Next to Monk’s edition hangs a hand-painted still life of fowers, which is obviously a self-painted homage to another Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh, by an artist unknown to us. As different as the results are, there is a similarity in the artistic procedure.
Jonathan Monk, My Height in Watercolor, 2022 at Hotel Ca´Grande
My Height in Watercolor
2022
Handpainted postcard with instruction
10.5 x 15 cm
Ed 40 + 10 AP
Published by MOREpublishers, Brussels
At Hotel Ca’Grande the topic of size is not only part of its name, but also of the edition by Jonathan Monk. My Height in Watercolor consists of a postcard on which Jonathan Monk drew a line with watercolor. The back of the card gives the instructions that complete the work. „Install this postcard on any wall with the line 180 cm above the foor“ – and thus in the same height as Jonathan Monk. Size is relative and only arises in the relation of things to one another.
Jonathan Monk, My Mother Cleaning My Father’s Piano Sheet Music, 2016 & Jonathan Monk, My Mother Cleaning My Father’s Piano, 2001 at Ebony Bar
My Mother Cleaning My Father’s Piano
2016
Offset printed sheet music, trifold
30 x 21.5 cm
Ed 200
Published by the artist
My Mother Cleaning My Father’s Piano
2001
sleeve of 7inch vinyl
18 x 18 cm
Ed 200
Published by Boileau & Narcejac Frankfurt
At Ebony Bar one can fnd the sheet music for My Mother Cleaning My Father’s Piano by „Monk“ placed on the piano of the restaurant, which might or might not be made out of ebony itself. The piece was originally performed by Rita Monk in Leicester, England in 2001, recorded by Jonathan Monk and published as a seven inch vinyl record in the same year. Its sleeve can also be found at Ebony Bar. The largest archive for music on the internet, Discogs, is fling the piece in the genres of „non-music“, as well as „rock“ and in the style of „feld-recording“, as well as „avantgard“. Leaving this discussion open, it is for sure the result of the conceptual transformation of house work into a creative process.
Jonathan Monk, Picture Post Card Posted From Post Box Pictured (selection of various projects) at Papermoon
Picture Post Card Posted From Post Box Pictured
Ongoing series
Offset print on cardstock
each 15 x 10 cm
open edition
Published by various publishers
Papermoon is a book and stationery shop, which offers a selection of postcards. Here we can fnd a selection of Jonathan Monk’s ongoing series Picture Post Card Posted From Post Box Pictured. As the limerick-like title already explains, a series of postcards that show images of post boxes from various cities, which – if purchased –get sent from exactly that postbox which they show. This project is taking place since 2003 in 23 cities, between them Vienna, Tokyo, Paris and Melbourne.
Jonathan Monk, Untitled (stencil), 2021 at Siamo alla frutta
Untitled (stencil)
2021
laser cut cardboard
50 x 70 cm
Ed 20 + 5 AP
Published by MOREpublishers, Brussels‘
Jonathan Monk’s Untitled (Stencil) hangs in the fruit shop Siamo alla frutta, another edition that refers directly to the work of Lawrence Weiner. Here as a potential stencil for the words „A time and a place at some point in the future. For example two weeks from here“ which could be sprayed on walls at different places. In the context of fruits, which get used for the representation of vanitas for centuries in the history of art, the temporal and local limitations of being are negotiated in contrast to the possibility of its repetition.
Jonathan Monk, Auto Focus Norwegian Spruce, 2017 at Ottica Mascazzini
Auto Focus Norwegian Spruce
2017
Lenticular print on PVC foam board
29.7 x 42 x 1 cm
Ed 20 + 8 AP
Published by MOREpublishers, Brussels
Jonathan Monk, Untitled (Touch Wood), 2016 at Ottica Mascazzini
Untitled (Touch Wood)
2016
Wood (Birch, Oak, Olive Wood, and Macassar Ebony)
15.8 x 7.8 x 0.7 cm
Ed. 3 + 2 AP of each variation
Published by Onestar Press, Paris
At Mascazzini Regina – Ottica e Telefonia you will fnd one of Jonathan Monk’s Untitled (Touch Wood), which is modelled after the iPhone 6s and got published in four different types of wood – in oak, birch, olive wood and macassar ebony.
Even if the publishers Onestar Press note that „As old superstition goes, sometimes we need to touch wooden objects for good luck even if it goes against any human reason or rationale.“, here you look with your eyes not with your hands. Speaking of another work which is placed at Mascazzini Regina. The Lenticular print Auto Focus Norwegian Spruce which switches between two blurred pictures of a Christmas tree in public space, reminding us that also things out of focus can be in focus. Like when visiting the optrician.
Jonathan Monk, From A to B in Kabul, 2015 at G.A.D. Tappeti Persiani
From A to Bo in Kabul
2015
Heat Transfer Print on wooden skateboard deck
approx. 80 x 20 x 1 cm
Ed. 50
Self-published
Amidst traditional oriental carpets, a skateboard with a famous photograph of Alighiero Boetti’s clenched fist on the underside stands in the shop G.A.D. tappeti persiani. Like the carpets, Boetti’s well-known works were made by anonymous weavers. In Boetti’s case, by women in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to whom he gave great freedom of execution.
Monk’s work subverts the demarcation between art and objecthood and emphasises the cultural exchange.
Jonathan Monk, Leporello Nr. 8 by Jonathan Monk, 2022 at Eni Station
Leporello Nr. 8 by Jonathan Monk
2022
Offset Print
14.2 x 99 cm
Ed 250, numbered
Published by LL`Editions, Gothenburg
The architecture of gasoline stations has a certain charm that may have prompted Ed Ruscha to make his famous leporello Twentysix Gasoline Stations in 1963.
Another very infuential leporello by Ed Ruscha is Every building on Sunset Strip from 1966. Jonathan Monk chose it as a motive for his leporello, which is on display between motor oil and windshield wipers.
It is the eighth in a series of leporellos published recently by II`Editions. Monk already visited the Sunset Strip in Ruscha’s footsteps for a project in 2002, but this time he photographed Ruscha’s leporello itself with his mobile phone camera in panorama mode. Giving us the opportunity to see not only Jonathan Monk’s work, but also that of Ed Ruscha in it easily and without having to go any distance.
Jonathan Monk, Robert Gober, 2023 at L´Erbolario
Robert Gober
2023
UV print on plywood
100 x 70 x 2 cm
Ed 7 + 3 AP
Published by MOREpublisher
The frst L’Erbolario opened in 1978 in Lodi, since then the company expanded all over italy and its facial creams, bodylotions and fragrences get distributed worldwide. The basis of these are naturally additives, the design of the shops is characterised by an image of idealised nature.
This interior is juxtaposed with an edition by Jonathan Monk, which is also made of a natural material. Wood that has been processed into plywood and on which an installation shot of another plywood panel has been printed. As the captions of it reveal, it is a work by Robert Gober from 1987.
Quoting Gertrude Stein on this: „A rose is a rose is a rose“.
Jonathan Monk, 100 x 100 = 10.000 (back / fron), 2015 at Farmacia Porpora
100 x 100 = 10,000 (back/front)
2015
Pigment print
40 x 60 cm
Ed. 100 + 5 AP
Published by Galerie de Multiples, Paris
Knowing the price and edition size of Jonathan Monk’s 100 x 100 = 10,000 (back/front), the title seems like a pure calculation of its potential revenue. This thought might be correct, but 10.000 in Italian is also part of the title of Chris Burdon’s edition Due Diecimela from 1977.
Burdon had asked the workshop Crown Point Press to replicate a 10.000 Lira note, which featured a portrait of Michelangelo, perfectly. Technically extremely complex, but not with the idea of forgery in mind, the bank note got printed 1:1 but on a way larger sheet of paper. Jonathan Monk uses this edition by Burdon as a motive for his own, but places the backside and the frontside of Burdon’s together on one side of the paper. Like Farmacia Porpora is helping the people in the neigbourhood to prelong their life, Monk is prelonging through transformation the concept behind Burdon’s piece.
Jonathan Monk, The Endless Search For Perfection, 2016 at Due Ruote Porpora
The Endless Search for Perfection
2006
wire hanger
28 cm diameter
Unlimited edition, each unique
Published by Monopol Magazin, Berlin
At Due Ruote Porpora one can buy and fx one’s bikes. On the walls above the offered bicycles hangs one of Jonathan Monk’s The Endless Search for Perfection.
One of the results of countless attempts by the artist to bend a metal coat hanger into a circular shape with his hands. The distinguished quality of Jonathan Monk’s work – on a conceptual, as well as formal level – is evident when directly compared to the balanced wheels of the bicycles. It may not surprise that it is not characterised by perfection in the classical sense.
Jonathan Monk, Grey / Gray, 2014 at Fred
Grey/Gray
2014
7-inch coloured vinyl record
17.8 cm dia.
Ed 100, each unique
Published by CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco
At Fred one can zip at a cocktail while browsing through vinyls. On the wall we can fnd two vinyls by Jonathan Monk, which belong to each other like a diptych. The one is a recording of black paint mixed with white paint, the other of white paint mixed with black paint. A methodic study of different concepts, which is expressed through the title, as well as visualised/visualized in the design of the vinyls themselves.
Jonathan Monk, White Square with Piece Missing, 2008 at Enoteca Il Griffo d´Oro
White Square with Piece Missing
2008
Offset print on wove paper
63 x 48 cm
Ed 100
Published by Mousse Magazine, Milan
The Enoteca Il Grifo d’Oro offers its customers an innumerable variety of culinary delights and wines. The shop is flled from top to bottom with these goods. Works of conceptual and minimal art often seem dry and unworldly, but here it is revealed how volume and space also infuence our experiences in everyday life. Jonathan Monk’s edition White square with piece missing hangs here as a contrast, which focuses on the „missing“, the empty space as content.
Jonathan Monk, Four Details of a Swimming Costume, 2016 at La Merceria della Piazza
Four Details of a Swimming Costume
2016
4 offset prints on paper
20.7 x 14.6 cm, each
Ed 40 + 7 AP
Published by MOREpublishers, Brussels
Nothing more personal than ones swimwear and underwear, of which La Merceria della Piazza is taking care for you at Via Porpora. Jonathan Monk found a photograph of his grandmother’s swimwear and chose details of those to create this edition which consists of four prints. A moment of abstraction in the everyday, in the work and in the shop.
Jonathan Monk, A Number of Points Randomly Connected (Milan), 2012 at Il Fioraio di Piazza Gobetti
A Number of Points Randomly Connected (Milan)
2012
offset print on blueback paper
84.1 x 59.4 cm
Collection Caroline and Bernardo Attolico, Milano
In front of the fowers of Fioraio Piazza Gobetti one can fnd a poster from Jonathan Monk’s ongoing project A Number of Points Randomly Connected. A green point on a poster together with the project’s name. Since the year 2012 Jonathan Monk realised this project in various cities like Berlin, Brussels, Toronto, San Francisco, Glasgow and Paris. Each city was given a different coloured point but the principle remained the same – someone fy-posts the posters randomly on the city streets. The project took place in Milan already in 2012. The poster in front of the fower shop is a relic of it, connecting the project Multiple Locations with a past project of Jonathan Monk in the city of Milan and its public space.
Realised by Corrado Beldì, Anna Ebner-Quadri, Julia Hölz, Nicola Mafessoni, Jonathan Monk and Marco Scotti
Texts and concept by Anna Ebner-Quadri
Photos by Andrea Rossetti
Multiple Locations shows a selection of Jonathan Monk’s editions that have been created within the last years. Editions are artworks that exist more than once and, after leaving the studio, end up in a wide variety of places. They are made to reach as many, different people as possible, and therefore not the classic exhibition space was chosen for this project, but places alongside Via Nicola Antonio Porpora, Milano, that, except for the neighborhood to some art galleries, archives and artists studio, do not seek much contact with contemporary art.
After a first chapter in Vienna, this exhibition project will now continue in the heart of Milano in more than twenty shops, hotels and bars. All of them are dedicated to different activities: from the traditional, local hardware shop where one can buy all kind of tools, screws and nails to a fancy cocktail bar, from a Chinese bar situated in the same building where Lucio Fontana used to live to a flower kiosk. Jonathan Monk’s editions will be sharing walls and shelves with fruits, bicycles, rugs and wedding dresses. The selection of the editions for each site is based on assonance and thematic references.
The dialogue between the artworks and the specific spaces will create new connections, reflections on contemporary art in relation to the everyday and on the creative process behind Monk’s conceptual artistic practice.
Like few other artists, Jonathan Monk takes on the content and form of art history and contemporary colleagues. Not without recognition, he makes their works his own material. There are small but precise shifts, details in the production process, the format, in the titles and the materiality, which are set very playfully, yet not without seriousness, by Monk, in order to question authorship, originality and uniqueness.
The complex set of references to artists like Alighiero Boetti, Franz West or Ed Ruscha in Monk`s editions will meet the everyday of the inhabitants and shopkeepers of Via Nicola Antonio Porpora, who might have more in common than it seems at first glance.
The editions can be visited during the opening hours of each store. Their owners and all the publishers of the editions by Jonathan Monk deserve our special, very great thanks.
Multiple Locations – Milano is realised in collaboration with miart – the international modern and contemporary art fair in Milan and Comitato Verde Porpora.
Please contact us for further information via info@multiplelocations.com or anna@andtheeditions.com.
Un progetto realizzato da Corrado Beldì, Anna Ebner-Quadri, Julia Hölz, Nicola Mafessoni, Jonathan Monk e Marco Scotti.
Testi e concetto da Anna Ebner-Quadri
Foto da Andrea Rossetti
Multiple Locations mette in mostra una selezione di edizioni di Jonathan Monk create negli ultimi anni. Le edizioni sono opere d`arte che esistono in più esemplari e, dopo aver lasciato lo studio, finiscono in un numero imprecisato di luoghi. Sono fatte per raggiungere quante più persone possibili, e quindi per questo progetto non abbiamo voluto scegliere il classico spazio espositivo, ma una serie di spazi lungo Via Nicola Antonio Porpora, a Milano, che – fatta eccezione per la vicinanza con alcune gallerie d`arte, archivi e studi d’artista che animano il quartiere – non hanno normalmente molto a che fare con l`arte contemporanea.
Dopo una prima edizione a Vienna, questo progetto espositivo continua nel cuore di Milano in più di venti tra negozi, hotel e bar. Tutti questi luoghi sono dedicati a diverse attività: dal tradizionale negozio di ferramenta locale, dove si possono acquistare tutti i tipi di attrezzi, viti e chiodi a un elegante cocktail bar, da un bar cinese situato nello stesso edificio in cui viveva Lucio Fontana per un piccolo chiosco di fiori. Le edizioni di Jonathan Monk condivideranno le pareti e gli scaffali con frutta, biciclette, tappeti e abiti da sposa. La selezione delle edizioni per ogni sito è basata su assonanze e riferimenti tematici.
Il dialogo tra le opere d`arte e gli spazi specifici crea così nuove connessioni, riflessioni sull`arte contemporanea in relazione al quotidiano e sul processo creativo che sono alla base della pratica artistica concettuale di Monk.
Come pochi altri artisti, Jonathan Monk fa propri contenuti e forme che appartengono alla storia dell`arte e ai suoi colleghi contemporanei. Non senza riconoscerlo, trasforma i loro lavori in materiale per i propri. Ci sono piccoli ma precisi cambiamenti, dettagli nel processo di produzione, nel formato, nei titoli e nella materialità, che sono inseriti in modo molto giocoso, ma non privo di serietà, da Monk, per mettere in discussione i concetti di autorialità, originalità e unicità. Il complesso insieme di riferimenti ad artisti come Alighiero Boetti, Franz West o Ed Ruscha nelle edizioni di Monk incontra con Multiple Locations la quotidianità degli abitanti del quartiere e dei negozianti di via Nicola Antonio Porpora, che potrebbero avere in comune più di quanto sembri a prima vista.
Le edizioni sono visibili durante gli orari di apertura di ogni punto vendita. Ai loro proprietari e collaboratori va il nostro speciale, sentito ringraziamento.
Multiple Locations – Milano è realizzato in collaborazione con miart – the international modern and contemporary art fair in Milano e Comitato Verde Porpora.
Contattateci pure per qualsiasi informazione info@multiplelocations.com / anna@andtheeditions.com
