The first exhibition of the New Year on The Economist Plaza is a work by Mark Monaghan.
Monaghan has created a sculptural work entitled Uncut based on his memory of a workman’s hut which he encountered in Eygpt. Constructed from lengths of timber and carefully arranged like a 3-dimensional puzzle, the timbers form a cuboid interior space, but leave the exterior as a jagged array of uneven edges jutting out and up in all directions.
The lengths of timber used to create Uncut have had their surfaces flatly painted in a monochrome style by Monaghan, reminiscent of a cartoon. Monaghan’s works are deliberately assembled from what can be termed as ‘low grade’ or ‘provisional’ materials and are often sited to contrast their material ‘poverty’. The hard luxury of The Economist Plaza compliments Uncut in a way that it can be seen to have a dialogue with the surrounding architecture.
Monaghan graduated from the BA Fine Art Sculpture course at Norwich School of Art and Design in 1986 and gained his MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, 1997. Monaghan has exhibited widely and has been included internationally in Sculpture at Perugi Artecontemporanea, Padua, Such a Joy in Caselampietro and Light Gallery in Faenza.