Language: John Monks

9 March - 14 April 2022

"The paintings of John Monks are incredibly striking ~ and their effect is long lasting.

His style is unique.
My wife Sally and I have collected his works over many years.
They are enjoyed and admired by everyone who sees them.
More often than not people are stopped in their tracks - when passing a Monks.
They have an attraction which appeals to your visual curiosity.
The apparent illusions and perspective in his compositions stimulate his draftsmanship with the paint - in an almost pallet knife depth of execution. "
- Ronnie Wood

The language of a painting is written in brushstrokes. Layer upon layer of words and stories are in the layers upon layers of thick impasto paint that is John Monks’ iconic painting style. In his new exhibition Monks unravels a discourse that encompasses the binaries of past and present, light and dark, decadence and dilapidation. The paintings become portraits of abandoned rooms filled with whispers of the past. The stories of these rooms are written in the patina of the painting’s surface. The works reflect the passage of time within a space.