Artist: JAYBO MONK

Based in Berlin since the 1980s, Jaybo Monk was born in the South of France in 1963. He creates art from his experiences with travelling and finding himself. He is a fashion designer, musician, magazine editor, actor, painter and sculptor, and though he works in many mediums, he bases what he makes on how he has come to understand society and the world today. He creates pieces surreal and abstract, yet defined and shapely, bridging the gap between purpose and nonsense. His newest abstract pieces are more painterly than ever, steering away from the urban fashion and street art that inspires him. In an age where Internet and social media so easily and routinely warp an individual, abstract art often makes a visual manifestation out of true human nature with an emphasis on brutal honesty. The work exhibited in “Beautyfool” points to the common obsession with youth and an idealized figure as well as ego and vanity. Jaybo Monk mixes together the human form, his personal experiences and thoughts on society, and the strangeness of other peoples’ sins and flaws. His figures, masses of mashed up body parts and predominantly thick grey paint, are subjects in a surreal world where physical perfection is impossible. He takes the grittiness of personified shapes and bodies and presents them to the viewer on stark canvas backgrounds, raw and unabashed.

 ~ blackbookgallery.com