Lot Essay
Matthew Monahan's Untitled (Red Figure) exposes his conception of the body in sculptural terms. Engineering a figure as a plan of interlocking shapes, Monahan contemplates the essence of representation and construction: dissecting the body's proportion into mathematically precise components, its fractured form reminiscent of the process of folding in his three-dimensional works. Through this dehumanised treatment, Monahan's figure takes on chilling effect. Painted red, his figure is visceral and mechanical, futuristic and primal, relating both exoticism and menace.