Irreverence and paying respect. Jonathan Monk to Pablo Picasso or how to evacuate the influence of a master...

Jonathan Monk is a great fan of Picasso and many other artists. Being an artist himself and also a fan of  Picasso can be a heavy burden to carry. There are many ways one can escape this situation, this time, J. Monk decided to play with an early photographic portrait of Picasso by André from 1945, printed on Lycra and stretched across wooden stretchers. The artist then “filled” the images, printed on the extensible fabric, from the back, with his very own Berlin general studio waste: paper, paint, objects touched by the artist... but mainly rubbish... The waste pushed against the Lycra deformed the photo and the three dimensional effect on the stretchable portrait was immediate. Picasso is now alive in Monk’s studio and the artist is freed from his demons. Finally in order to make his general studio waste visible when you turn the portrait, Jonathan Monk placed a plexiglass sheet on the back of the work offering his studio waste to be contemplated...