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MATTHEW MONAHAN (b. 1972)

ARTIST BIO INQUIREDOWNLOAD PDFSIMILAR ARTWORKS
 
MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in. MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in.
MATTHEW MONAHAN - Nation Builder - cast bronze - 107 x 62 x 27 in.
Nation Builder2010107 x 62 x 27 in. cast bronze
Provenance
Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Private Collection, Idaho, 2010
Literature
Raphaela Platow with Douglas Fogle and Matthew Monahan, “Matthew Monahan” Hatje Cantz 2001, pg. 27
Nancy Princenthal, “Sculpture in a contracted Field,” Art in America, October 2010, pg. 167
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The stands are: 32 H x 19-3/4 W x 19-3/4 D in. <br> <br>Rat: 27 7/8 x 12 7/8 x 20 7/8 in. <br>Ox: 29 1/8 x 20 1/8 x 16 7/8 in. <br>Tiger: 25 7/8 x 14 7/8 x 16 7/8 in. <br>Rabbit: 27 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 18 7/8 in. <br>Dragon: 35 7/8 x 18 1/8 x 25 7/8 in. <br>Snake: 27 7/8 x 14 1/8 x 6 3/4 in. <br>Horse: 29 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 22 in. <br>Ram: 25 1/4 x 20 7/8 x 16 1/8 in. <br>Monkey: 27 1/8 x 12 7/8 x 14 7/8 in. <br>Rooster: 24 x 9 x 16 7/8 in. <br>Dog: 25 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 18 7/8 in. <br>Boar: 27 1/8 x 16 1/8 x 20 7/8 in. <br> <br>World-renowned Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei is a sculptor, installation artist, architectural designer, curator, and social and cultural critic who has been exhibiting his work internationally since the late 1990s. His artistic practice is inextricably linked with cultural engagement and willingly crosses barriers between different media—cultural, artistic, and social. It was perhaps his detention from 2011 until August 2015 by the Chinese government that brought his views to the greatest audience. Ai Weiwei now lives in Germany and continues to create new works and uses his significant international profile to promote artistic and personal freedom. <br> <br>These twelve sculptures depict the animals associated with the traditional Chinese zodiac. Ai Weiwei’s cycle references a European rendering of the zodiac animals designed by the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione. The original sculptures were built in the eighteenth century for an elaborate water-clock fountain at the Yuanming Yuan (Old Summer Palace), which was ransacked in 1860. By recreating the lost and displaced statues, Ai Weiwei engages issues of looting, repatriation, and cultural heritage while expanding upon ongoing themes in his work concerning the “fake” and “copy” in relation to the original. <br> <br>Ai Weiwei now works in Berlin, Germany.

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Along with its companion work, "Untitled" (1991) was on display in the lobby of Chicago's Heller International Building at 500 West Monroe Street from the building's opening in 1992 until its renovation in 2015. This painting has remained in the same private collection since its creation. <br> <br>The November 2018 sale of Schnabel's "Large Rose Painting, (Near Van Gogh's Grave)" for $1.2 million at auction demonstrates a strong demand for the artist's work. This major sale was only the second-highest price paid for a Schnabel at auction: the record was set in November of 2017 when "Ethnic Type #14" sold for $1.4 million. <br> <br>A recent 2018 museum exhibition, "Julian Schnabel: Symbols of Actual Life" at the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, featured several of Schnabel's large-scale paintings.

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