Ian Monroe (American, born New York, 1972) came to public attention in 2003 when a large-scale work from his recent MA degree show was featured in the opening exhibition at the new Saatchi gallery. They Built Upon It is Monroe's second solo show since graduating from Goldsmiths College two years ago, and presents a significant body of new work.Ian Monroe lives and works in London and was included in Edge of the Real, a group painting show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2004.Ian Monroe lives and works in London and was included in Edge of the Real, a group painting show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2004. Emerging American artist Ian Monroe must consider himself very lucky. Only fifteen months after his Goldsmiths MA show, he is confidently making work that serious art collectors on both sides of the Atlantic want to buy. 'Canyons Recreated', the main piece he exhibited at the university showcase was snapped up by the Art World's very own tastemaker Charles Saatchi. Monroe takes the virtue out of painting, replacing paint with collaged materials ranging from paper, vinyl, carpet, and linoleum. Through this construction process Monroe lends a sense of solidity to his image, literally building a space which isn't there. It's a way of cheating at image-making: readymade colour fields fill in his hand-drawn pattern, creating a painting without rendering.Ian Monroe's work bats the viewer back and forth between experiential space and the impenetrable surface, describing forms that lie parallel to the picture frame, and placing Monroe's collages somewhere between painting and sculpture.Monroe architectonic space is brought to the foreground, the surface of the work and the materials of its making are given prominence. The artist investigates the nature of idealised space: the showroom, the corporate office atrium, the church, and the hyper real environments of science fiction and computer games. All these spaces cater to, or project onto us, specific desires or lifestyles that maintain certain kinds of collective social myths. Monroe takes the virtue out of painting, replacing paint with collaged materials ranging from paper, vinyl, carpet, and linoleum. Through this construction process Monroe lends a sense of solidity to his image, literally building a space which isn't there. It's a way of cheating at image-making: readymade colour fields fill in his hand-drawn pattern, creating a painting without rendering.
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