The World in Handkerchiefs

In his works which take their cue from images of popular culture and explore the meaning of art, Jonathan Monk reinterprets concepts such as authorship, originality and creativity. The artist often uses ready-made objects, reappropriating the works and ideas of leading artists such as Ed Ruscha, Sol LeWitt and John Baldessari. Created as part of a collage series, "The World in Handkerchiefs" uses various textiles including linen and rags. Drawing upon the Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti’s "Mappa", a series of maps embroidered with country flags, Monk offers an alternative map of the world against a background of handkerchiefs. Monk’s atlas replaces flags with flower motifs and embroideries, suggesting a novel way to imagine and represent the world as one on a two-dimensional surface.