Jonathan Monk. Shine Bright Like a Diamond.
OPENING: September 5, 7PM

The exhibition revisits various approaches and reflections on appropriation, artistic and monetary value, through a new commission by Jonathan Monk (UK, 1969). In Shine Bright Like a Diamond at Ar/Ge Kunst, one of the artist’s first institutional solo shows in Italy, Monk weaves together homage, parody, and (re)appropriation, engaging with the work of Chris Burden and the mechanisms of contemporary visual culture. Starting from a viral image of Kim Kardashian standing in front of Urban Light (2008), not crediting Burden’s work, the project reflects on the transformation of art into a reflective surface— a mute icon in a society dominated by image and the performance of the self. In an era where the simulacrum replaces reality, Monk sharply investigates the tensions between authenticity and representation, originality and reproduction.

Jonathan Monk was born in Leicester in 1969 and lives and works in Berlin. He holds a BFA from Leicester Polytechnic (1988) and an MFA from Glasgow School of Art (1991). He is currently exhibiting Limited Company at Belvedere 21, Vienna, Austria. Recent institutional solo exhibitions were S L at Mahler LeWitt Residency, Torre Bonomo, Spoleto, Italy (2024); Exhibit_Model Four at Kindl Berlin, Germany (2019); The Sound Of Laughter Isn't Necessarily Funny at The Gallery, at De Montford University Leicester, United Kingdom (2017); Exhibit Model One at Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz, Switzerland (2016); Anything by the Smiths at CAN Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2015); COLOURS SHAPES WORDS (pink, blue, square, circle) at CAC Malaga, Spain (2013); Rew - Shay Hood Project Part II, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas, USA (2009); Time Between Spaces at Palais de Tokyo and Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2008). Upcoming: Something To See Something To Hide/Nothing To See Nothing To Hide at Museum Landskrona, Sweden.