Skip to content
MONICA BONVICINI Bent and Winded

MONICA BONVICINI
Bent and Winded
2017
LED light tubes, wire, steel
91 by 64 by 10 in.  231.1 by 162.6 by 25.4 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI The Hour We Knew Nothing About Each Other

MONICA BONVICINI
The Hour We Knew Nothing About Each Other
2016
Tempera on Fabriano paper, lined on fabric
51 15/16 by 40 9/16 by 1 3/16 in.  132 by 103 by 3 cm

MONICA BONVICINI Belts Ball (double ball)

MONICA BONVICINI
Belts Ball (double ball)
2017
Black leather men's belts
15 3/4 by 31 1/2 by 15 3/4 in.  40 by 80 by 40 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI Mountain Town 2015

MONICA BONVICINI
Mountain Town 2015
2017
Tempera and spray paint on four honeycomb panels
Overall, framed: 100 3/8 by 224 3/4 by 2 in.  255 by 570.9 by 5.1 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI No More #1

MONICA BONVICINI
No More #1
2016
Aluminum square tubes, white neon tubes, 18 double tube letters, dimmable, ed. 1/3 plus 2AP
36 1/4 by 157 1/2 by 2 15/16 in.  92 by 400 by 7.5 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI Detail of Structural Psychodramas #2

MONICA BONVICINI
Detail of Structural Psychodramas #2
2017
Drywall and Murano glass
144 by 564 by 5 in.  365.8 by 1432.6 by 12.7 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI Untitled (two men building a wall)

MONICA BONVICINI
Untitled (two men building a wall)
2017
Photograph printed on wallpaper
166 by 315 in.  421.6 by 800.1 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI Leather Tool ('round' hammer)

MONICA BONVICINI
Leather Tool ('round' hammer)
2009
Leather, leather string and hammer
13 3/8 by 4 9/16 by 2 3/8 in.  34 by 11.5 by 6 cm.

MONICA BONVICINI Yet Untitled

MONICA BONVICINI
Yet Untitled
2017
Mixed media mounted on honeycomb panels 
66 15/16 by 55 1/8 in.  170 by 140 cm.

MONICA BONVICINIRE pleasure RUN

MONICA BONVICINI
RE pleasure RUN
Installation view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY, 2017
Photo: Adam Reich

MONICA BONVICINI

MONICA BONVICINI
RE pleasure RUN
Installation view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY, 2017
Photo: Adam Reich

MONICA BONVICINI

MONICA BONVICINI
RE pleasure RUN
Installation view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY, 2017
Photo: Adam Reich

MONICA BONVICINI RE pleasure RUN

MONICA BONVICINI
RE pleasure RUN
Installation view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY, 2017
Photo: Adam Reich

MONICA BONVICINI

MONICA BONVICINI
RE pleasure RUN
Installation view at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NY, 2017
Photo: Adam Reich

Press Release

Mitchell-Innes & Nash is pleased to present RE pleasure RUN, an exhibition of new works by Berlin-based, Italian artist Monica Bonvicini. The exhibition includes painting, photography, neon works and a large-scale installation, showcasing the artist’s interest in the relationships between gender, architecture and the power dynamics that shape our world. The exhibition is Bonvicini’s debut at Mitchell-Innes & Nash.

Best known for her large-scale sculptural installations that engage architectural space and the viewer through dry humor, Monica Bonvicini rejects categorization and questions elements of control, gender, and power embedded in images, language and physical space.

The exhibition at Mitchell-Innes & Nash will be anchored around an installation titled Structural Psychodramas #2, in which the artist uses temporary walls in the gallery to create a new architectural environment. The walls will be bare and slightly lifted, supported by small murano glass sculptures underneath. As the title suggests, the work is part of a new series in which the artist uses the walls of institutions and galleries to undermine the structural functionality of such places, while also prescribing them with an open possibility for an imaginary performance. 

In addition to the central installation, Bonvicini will also present two large-scale neon light sculptures. One neon sign boldly reads “NO MORE MASTURBATION”. The sign issues an imperative to the viewer but also raises a question about the significance of desire and pleasure in the current hyper-capitalist moment: is pleasure possible without the goal of productivity? This sculpture, as well as the title of the show RE pleasure RUN, is part of Bonvicini’s ongoing investigation into language and its legitimacy as an absolute form of communication. 

Two monumental pictorial works will occupy the gallery’s east and west walls. The first, a black-and-white varnish painting in four panels titled Mountain Town 2015 depicts a California house burning from a wildfire, its structure reduced to a bare framework. Beginning with a series of disaster paintings in 2006, notions of catastrophe and destruction have been recurrent themes for Bonvicini.  The present work belongs to a more recent series focused on man-made catastrophes, mostly homes being destroyed by natural causes, which are the consequences of the effects of global warming.  

The second large-scale image is a wallpapered photograph that depicts two male workers building a brick wall. The image recalls a billboard advertisement, but without geographical identifiers and with the workers faces obscured. 

While Bonvicini takes advantage of disparate materials and mediums, her works as a whole function as equally significant aspect of her practice. Through an ongoing engagement of physical and psychological space, the viewer becomes an integral, yet indiscernible, part of the work.