Matthew Monahan

The human figures of Matthew Monahan seem to have been quickly put together from foam rubber, wire and paper. But nothing is less true. The intensely dramatic expression that Monahan manages to give to these unsightly materials requires considerable attention and a careful search for the correct balance. At what point does theatricality turn to sentimentality? How far can you banish tawdriness yet profit from the wild trace that it leaves in the neatly laid out path in front of you? Monahan seeks this boundary each time anew so as to be able to present the drama of man longing for dignity and grandeur, yet each time coming to grief because of his mental limitations and the vulnerability and mortality of his body.

For the Sonsbeek 2008 exhibition Monahan has made a three metre tall sculpture to which he has given the title The Ornamental Hermit. This hermit seems to have been erected from a crumpled up piece of metal. Running across him are sturdy bands holding a separate plaster arm pressed to his chest and a painting against his back. The painting shows an unblemished, noble face.

For Monahan, the hermit is the archetypal figure of the outsider and the artist. In his view, the artist has to remain on the margin of society in order to be receptive to the grandeur of the power of imagination.

The Ornamental Hermit was borne during the Procession by the Guild of the Homeless and the Alysis Social Services Group.