Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery

This will be the first solo exhibition in Canada of work by Los Angeles based artist Matthew Monahan. The survey will for the first time bring together three distinct phases of his practice: early works using drywall, more recent pieces from the series utilizing large sheets of glass and industrial ratchet straps more usually seen securing heavy loads, and these combined with new works in cast bronze often standing atop columns or structures made from materials found in the foundry - bricks from smelting ovens, large sheets of metal. Running throughout is Monahan's interest in the interplay between two and three dimensions, between drawing and materiality, infused with personal mythology and a self-reflective look at the conventions of museum display. Selected from work made during the past eight years, Monahan's figurative sculptures and drawings evoke artifacts from another time or era.