24 Dessins Isométriques — Afrique Cubique


2017
20 copies
Signed and numbered
29×33 cm
11.4×12.9 in.
African Wax Print, paper, metal.
Silkscreen
Unique Wax Print covered slipcases



Jonathan Monk combines ideas and forms. Jonathan Monk links dates and locations. Jonathan Monk knows that great art is sparked by the friction of two antagonistic elements, ideas or forms. This time the artist decided to play with two of his favorite fetishes: African Wax Print that adorn both his home and studio, and Sol Lewitt’s Isometric drawings, combining Monk’s most cherished artist, series of drawings and textiles.

After painstakingly recreating 24 of Sol Lewitt’s “42 Isometric Drawings” (selected from Lewitt’s 1982 Paula Cooper Gallery exhibition catalogue), Monk decided to have this selection of iconic conceptual shapes silkscreened over “so called” African wax print (“so called” as the fabrics are mostly designed in the Netherlands for the African market as a result of Dutch textile companies importing the batik printing technique from Indonesia). The resulting artist book edition contains selected original African Wax Print coupled with an isometric shape complimenting the textile’s design.

The 24 silkscreen prints on African Wax Print are mounted on individual sheets of paper and bound together as a typical sample book.

A gold and green silkscreen label mimicking typical African Wax Print stickers ornate the book and the slipcase (each slipcase — also covered with African Wax Print — and combination of fabrics samples is unique).

“24 Dessins Isométriques” - Afrique Cubique - is also an indirect homage to the late Austrian Franz West, who himself had extensively used African Wax Print to drape his signature artist’s furniture.

Presenting “24 Dessins Isométriques” at the NTU CCA Singapore Art Book Fair 2018

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