Square Garden

de Matthew Monahan, Karen Marta, Brian Roettinger

Following in the great artist book tradition of John Baldessari and Edward Ruscha, the UCCA has called on Aaron Curry along with LA artists Kathryn Andrews, Alex Israel, Matthew Monahan, Sterling Ruby, Ryan Trecartin, and Kaari Upson to make individual artist books for 'The Los Angeles Project' in Beijing. For 'Square garden', Matthew Monahan reproduces a series of thirty six-foot drawings which seem to continuously resurface, as if the reader is navigating through an unfurling labyrinth where images rise and fall like the monuments of fictional empire. Made from carbon paper folded into rice paper to create a series of overlapping Rorschachs, the simple drawings of figures, building materials and decorative motifs come to resemble architectural plans, disaster diagrams, exercise manuals and war games. A kaleidoscope-esque experience, 'Square garden' was inspired by the artist's experience in 2002-2003 of the Chinese urban landscape.