SUMMER ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE UNVEILS INSTALLATION
This summer, Artist-in-Residence Dean Monogenis has been working on a large-scale installation pairing landscape with the abstract to create a three-dimensional painting that organically grows out of its space. The installation will be on view September 4-29 in the Choate House Gallery in Pleasantville.
As a painter, Monogenis creates fictional sites that are imbedded with a sense of tension using objects that don’t normally coexist and elements that appear in conflict. He often combines the natural with man-made elements.
“I wanted to bring that into sculpture and I wanted to also incorporate the environment that the sculpture will be in.” Monogenis explained. The installation, titled “Monument to Ascent,” brings the walls, floor, and ceiling into the art.
The title was inspired by the idea that a monument could be made for an ideal, not just to mark a particular event in time.
When applying for the residency, Monogenis said the biggest draw was the amount of space he’d have to work with.
“Also, I felt like in this environment I would be able to experiment. I’m usually exhibiting my work in commercial gallery settings, so there’s more pressure. I welcomed the opportunity to play around and not feel that pressure.”
This was Monogenis’ first residency, and the first time in a while that he’d worked in an open studio atmosphere.
“I’m usually pretty private when I work,” he said. “It’s good because I’m usually painting, so doing sculpture is a much more physical experience, so a lot of things are technical and therefore new to me. I welcome people coming in because sometimes they know things I don’t know and they can offer me advice.”
Monogenis’ work has had solo exhibitions at the Stux Gallery in Chelsea and the Walter Maciel Gallery in Los Angeles, among others. His work was recently included in collection of landscape works at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, N.Y.
This is the second year of the Summer Artists Residency in Pleasantville. Monogenis was selected from over 40 national and international applicants by a sub-committee of the Fine Arts Public Programming Committee, headed by Professor Jillian Mcdonald.
A public reception for the artists will be held on September 10, from 5 to 7 pm. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.
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