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ALYSSA MONKS
Where Longing Meets Limits
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Alyssa Monks' new exhibition of paintings, entitled "Where Longing Meets Limits," confronts the human experience of longing for that which is beyond our reach. The recent loss of her brother weighs heavy
as does the wanting things to be different than they are. Unbridled human vulnerability arises from the helpless awareness of being unable to control so much of what we try to. Not limited to mortality, this permeates almost everything human beings pursue. Flowers, branches, water droplets, and vapor - painted carefully in harmonizing color - speak to the ideals of femininity and beauty distort and overwhelm the portraits, creating an illusive expression that is impossible to see fully and interpret. We are left knitting bits of delicate illusionistic form together to catch a glimpse of these women, ensconced in their distancing efforts to control what you see, but also begging to be seen. We are in an endless loop, and only find ourselves in the end, also trying to make sense of a senseless experience, realizing that it is ultimately a futile pursuit. Monks' aim is to inspire viewers to let go before they must let go, in order to fully experience the surprisingly beautiful unpredictability of life. |
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Monks earned her B.A. from Boston College and studied painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence. She went on to complete her M.F.A at the New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art where she is now a trustee and instructor. She teaches and lectures at universities and institutions nationwide. “My intention is to transfer the intimacy and vulnerability of my human experience into a painted surface. I like mine to be as intimate as possible, each brush stroke like a fossil, recording every gesture and decision.”
In the years since her first New York solo exhibition in 2006, Alyssa Monks has demonstrated the unique ability to blend figures seamlessly with their environment in a natural and sensuous continuum. Monks first used the properties of water, steam and glass to submerge and enshroud the individuals in her paintings. Currently, her characters appear as essential elements of the natural landscape. Monks’ engaging, figurative subjects have moved from the intimacy of the interior to the bold, open wilderness as she continues to incorporate the physical properties of nature into her models. Neither portraits nor narratives, Monks’ paintings combine elements of portraiture and landscape into single-figure examinations of loss, love, desire and hope as they engage the viewer with lush, painterly surfaces, colors and brushstrokes.Monks’ paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including “Intimacy” at the Kunst Museum in Ahlen, Germany, “Peers & Influences,” at the The Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, GA, and “Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820-2009″ at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York. Her work is represented in public and private collections, including the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, The Center for Contemporary Art, and the collections of Howard Tullman, Danielle Steele and Eric Fischl.
Monks has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Painting three times and was invited to give a TED talk at Indiana University in November, 2015, which has now been watched more than one million times. The artist’s paintings and drawings were an integral part of the set of the FX series The Americans throughout the sixth and final season in 2018. In August 2020, a solo exhibition for Alyssa Monks was presented at The Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia, and Forum Gallery opened the Artist’s most recent solo exhibition, "It’s All Under Control," in November 2021. Up next, Monk's work will be on view in the solo exhibition "Alyssa Monks: Where Longing Meets Limits", at MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY, 2023.
In the years since her first New York solo exhibition in 2006, Alyssa Monks has demonstrated the unique ability to blend figures seamlessly with their environment in a natural and sensuous continuum. Monks first used the properties of water, steam and glass to submerge and enshroud the individuals in her paintings. Currently, her characters appear as essential elements of the natural landscape. Monks’ engaging, figurative subjects have moved from the intimacy of the interior to the bold, open wilderness as she continues to incorporate the physical properties of nature into her models. Neither portraits nor narratives, Monks’ paintings combine elements of portraiture and landscape into single-figure examinations of loss, love, desire and hope as they engage the viewer with lush, painterly surfaces, colors and brushstrokes.Monks’ paintings have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including “Intimacy” at the Kunst Museum in Ahlen, Germany, “Peers & Influences,” at the The Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, GA, and “Reconfiguring the Body in American Art, 1820-2009″ at the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts, New York. Her work is represented in public and private collections, including the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, The Center for Contemporary Art, and the collections of Howard Tullman, Danielle Steele and Eric Fischl.
Monks has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Painting three times and was invited to give a TED talk at Indiana University in November, 2015, which has now been watched more than one million times. The artist’s paintings and drawings were an integral part of the set of the FX series The Americans throughout the sixth and final season in 2018. In August 2020, a solo exhibition for Alyssa Monks was presented at The Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia, and Forum Gallery opened the Artist’s most recent solo exhibition, "It’s All Under Control," in November 2021. Up next, Monk's work will be on view in the solo exhibition "Alyssa Monks: Where Longing Meets Limits", at MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY, 2023.