Installation view, Matthew Monahan at Anton Kern Gallery. Courtesy Anton Kern Gallery, New York.
Working with forms of fragmented and reassembled body parts in a wild array of materials, Los Angeles-based artist Matthew Monahan constantly reimagines the figure. This crowded yet cohesive show of 16 recent sculptures and a selection of works on paper demonstrates the full range of his creative prowess. Intimate pieces like the wall-hung bronze mask Ikkyu (2014), with its forlorn and battered features, are in contrast to works like the mighty Hephaestus (2014). This approximately 12-foot-tall figure in stainless steel and bronze, whose title alludes to the god of blacksmiths and sculptors, indeed recalls the heroic statues of antiquity.