In addition to providing representation for artists through a gallery space, the Hamiltonian Gallery also provides a fellowship program offering emerging artists two years of time and support to create work. All unrepresented artists can apply. Participating fellows attend lectures, seminars, and monthly critique workshops, write grants, and help choose the fellows for the following two-year session.
The gallery’s mission statement
To build a dynamic community of innovative artists and effective visual art leaders by providing professional development opportunities for these aspiring new artists and by advancing their entrepreneurial success.
Artist: Jonathan Monaghan
Monaghan is currently enrolled in Maryland’s MFA studio art program. He works with commercial CGI software, photographic prints, video, lasers, and computer-generated sculpture.
Artist’s statement
"I create images of hybrids; entities which are organic and synthetic, animal and architectural, dark and whimsical. These hybrids form around Christian mythology, but are placed into the context of video games and Hollywood CGI through the computer technology which I employ. The basic Christian themes of sacrifice, death, and transcendence of the body remain constant yet are given new relevance by the digital medium. When taken as a whole the work becomes an ominous vision of anxiety, addressing an uneasy relationship between nature and the man-made."
From a 2010 interview
[Monaghan] calls his work a celebration of “Pixar and Jesus, the Virgin Mary and artificial insemination, operating tables and sacrificial altars and mythical creatures and genetic engineering.”
A few thoughts from Shenandoah
I know. More photography. I'm not saying let's buy this immediately.
Part of what Monaghan seems to be exploring here is what is of the human world and what is of the natural world. I’ll start with the print on the left. Of the natural world we have the bird claw and the wings, but obviously the wings are in the wrong place. The bird, such as it is, is constrained and manipulated by the artist. Also, the claw wears a perverse crown (which I read as sort of a Jesus thing … notice how the wings suggest Christ’s arms extended on the cross). There’s also the strange plaque across the bird’s thigh. The lamb below is again manipulated by the artist, and while the animal is intact, it’s painted in circus-like colors. Again, I think of Christ as the lamb. The lamb seems to be sitting on an altar or possibly a coffin surrounded by dog heads.
Onto the right print, more evidence of nature’s manipulation by humans. The eagle wears a crown and has a painted face. The egg (fertility!) is painted to remind viewers of the United States flag. OK. The archway resembles a space where a wedding might be performed and again, we’re clearly in a cathedral of some sort (as in the previous image).
Much of Monaghan’s work rides on contrast and irony, which I dig. The themes could include religion, sacred spaces, nature, the manufacture of religion/faith, questions of what is sacred and what is pedestrian, etc. The colors are fantastic – reminds me of punk rock and burlesque cultures (neither of which have been particularly welcome in Christian circles). Excited to hear from other people.
