Move The Way You Want
Jonathan Monaghan's exhibition transports viewers from ancient mythology where horses are symbols of majesty and beauty to today’s digital age where horses have evolved into digital devices of our shared economy.
Through December 31, 2022, visit the Phillips Collection to see Intersections: Jonathan Monaghan’s Move the Way you Want, an immersive installation transforming the former Dining Room of the Phillips House into phantasmagoric dreamscapes where past and present meet, and the sacred and urbane overlap.
In adhesive canvas printed with digital imagery, Gothic-like archways and lavish Baroque-like windows frame a present-day beach scene with bike shares, abandoned scooters, Pelotons, and hi-tech gadgets. Additionally, a video-projection features a mythical horse walking on a beach toward a spaceship-coffeeshop-altar, ready to embark on an unknown journey. All of this reinforces the fantastic and ritualistic aspects of the project, as well as the cynical view of our fast-paced, consumerist culture.
Monaghan’s installation is accompanied by paintings from the Phillips’s permanent collection, Giorgio de Chirico’s Horse (1928) and Théodore Géricault’s Two Horses (1808–09). While the inclusion of de Chirico’s work adds to the surreal atmosphere of the installation, Géricault’s painting gives it a romantic tone.