Gana Art is pleased to present "Moment Point", a solo exhibition by Canadian artist Andrew Moncrief (b. 1987), who was born in Comox Valley and is now based in Berlin, Germany. Moncrief’s practice originates from an exploration of social themes such as queer identity, masculinity, and the idealization of the body, gradually expanding toward metaphysical inquiry and interior sensibilities, through which he has developed a distinct visual language. Moncrief studied Painting and Drawing at Concordia University in Montreal. In 2016, he held a solo exhibition at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and garnered international attention as a finalist for the Salt Spring National Art Prize. Through collaborations with GUCCI, Moncrief has extended his practice into the realm of contemporary fashion and culture, with the project featured in Numéro Art Magazine and his work also appearing in SLEEK Magazine. “Moment Point” marks Moncrief’s first solo exhibition in Asia, presenting 25 new works that signify a pivotal moment in his artistic trajectory.

Prior to 2016, Moncrief’s practice focused on meticulous drawing and classical depictions of the human form. Influenced by the British artist Jenny Saville (b. 1970), his early paintings expressed existential anxiety and fractures of identity through contorted and imperfect bodies. However, Moncrief’s engagement with these forms was not a mere stylistic appropriation. Raised within a conservative family environment, he was compelled to conceal his queer identity and conform to traditional masculine norms. These experiences shaped his understanding of the body as a contested site of struggle.

Moncrief critically reexamined the representation of the body, long governed by the male gaze in the canon of Western art history. He often appropriated rare instances within classical painting—such as Peter Paul Rubens' (1577–1640) depiction of Saint Sebastian (c. 1614)—where male figures were rendered in states of vulnerability rather than strength. By doing so, he sought to foreground sensitivity and fragility over the traditional valorization of masculine robustness. Through this deconstructive approach, Moncrief challenged the historical conventions that had fixed the body into idealized forms, advocating instead for a more fluid and multilayered conception of gender, corporeality, and identity.

While Moncrief’s earlier works focused on deconstructing socially constructed ideals of masculinity and identity through the physical body, his more recent practice has evolved into a fundamental inquiry into sensation, perception, and the conditions of existence. After the pandemic, Moncrief began to view even the body itself not as a fixed entity but as fluid and mutable, shifting his focus beyond the discourses of identity politics toward the realms of inner consciousness, the unconscious, and invisible layers of sensation.

A profound period of inner reckoning and renewal marked a turning point in Moncrief’s practice. In 2023, a series of transformative experiences loosened the grip of long-held assumptions about self and purpose. “I was out of touch with myself,” he reflects, “my ego was gripping onto things so tightly I couldn’t even feel or see the box I had created—to protect myself, to live within the bubble I had constructed.” In releasing these inner scaffolds, Moncrief emerged into a space of heightened perception, where presence, rather than identity, became the ground of exploration. No longer tethered solely to the body, his practice now reaches toward subtler, less visible states of being—where sensation, memory, and consciousness shimmer in the threshold between the seen and unseen.

The exhibition title, “Moment Point”, draws from a concept introduced in Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts (1929–1984), which posits that all existence is created at the intersection known as the "moment point"—the ever-present now. The book proposes that time does not unfold linearly but instead exists as a single "point" where infinite possibilities converge vertically, functioning simultaneously as a "portal". Moncrief seeks to visualize this metaphysical notion through painting. Within his compositions, figures undergo processes of deconstruction and reassembly, appearing not as fixed entities but as layered amalgamations of temporal fragments. Thus, his paintings transcend mere representation, transforming into spaces where existence, sensation, and memory coalesce across multiple temporalities.

The works on view in “Moment Point” deliberately eschew narrative representation. Figures inhabit the threshold between formation and dissolution, while moments of stasis are imbued with compressed movement and time. These multilayered juxtapositions of temporality and perspective evoke resonances with Cubism, particularly the experimental approaches of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. For the artist, this body of work represents an attempt to translate into visual language the sensations experienced through fissures in reality—moments akin to scenes from a dream or "a glitch in the matrix," through which he glimpses the cracks within the fabric of the world. Moncrief’s paintings leave tangible traces of the body on the canvas, yet simultaneously invoke realms beyond the physical—the domains of metaphysical reflection and spiritual intuition. His work, while grounded in corporeal form and material presence, gestures toward dimensions of existence that elude direct perception. In this way, Moncrief's paintings operate as dual terrains where the corporeal and the spiritual, the real and the unreal, intersect.

Within a contemporary visual culture characterized by the rapid consumption of images, Moncrief positions painting as a medium to reawaken the density of perception and awareness. The works installed in the exhibition invite viewers to pause and attune themselves to the experience of existence in the "here and now." Initially rooted in an awareness of the problematics of othered identities, Moncrief’s work has now turned toward unseen inner experiences, demonstrating that painting remains a vibrant language capable of conveying both thought and sensation. As the artist remarks, " I am not the person I thought I was rather I am becoming — in this present moment — the person I am supposed to be." this exhibition captures the dynamic and profound traces of an existence in constant flux.


Critique

Moment Point
Song Tae Chong, PhD
Member, Board of Trustees, Martin Parr Foundation
Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University

Andrew Moncrief’s recent body of work represents a distinct evolution in his artistic journey, marked by a shift toward a deeper exploration of formal abstraction and the limits of perception and embodiment. Anchored in his studies of quantum physics, non-western modes of spirituality and the experiential, his paintings reflect a dynamic sense of unrest, a gesturing outside of the two-dimensional plane and the canvas itself. These works engage with key compositional techniques such as sacred geometry and rabatment which helps to guide the viewer’s perception and understanding of the space within the frame.

At the same time, Moncrief’s work challenges the viewer to consider not just the visual elements of the individual paintings, but also to rethink the very nature of what is visible. His paintings push physical and metaphysical boundaries, urging us to look beyond the surface of representation and to reconsider what lies unseen or outside of our known modes of looking. There is a compelling tension between two-dimensionality and the embodied experience, with each piece asking us how a painted surface can contain presence and physicality. They also ask us to consider the possibility of a tangible 3rd dimension and the intangibility of a fourth 4th — or higher — spatial dimension.

The recurring motif of a hand holding a cigarette is of particular significance, inviting associations with the work of Philip Guston. However, Moncrief’s influence from Guston does not rest solely in the recurrent motif, but in the shared mode of questioning—an inquiry into the nature of what is depicted and how, and what remains outside the frame. Both figurative and abstract, Moncrief’s work navigates this duality, questioning the very boundaries of the frame itself and examining the liminal space between inside and outside interior and exterior and the duality between order and chaos.

Moncrief’s paintings are not just a reflection of his individual thought process; they are a mirror of our times. Like Guston, Moncrief is creating in a period of geopolitical turbulence, where identities emerge and clash. His work, in this context, serves as both an introspective and outward-facing inquiry into how we perceive ourselves and the world around us, especially when the forces of history, culture, and identity are in flux.

Through abstraction and formal construction, Moncrief invites the viewer to engage in a more profound dialogue with the artwork. These paintings are not merely about what is seen; they are a prompt to challenge and reconsider the very act of looking both from inside and outside — while also urging a reimagining of what it means to be contained and embodied within the limits of the canvas, and therefore our physical being.

전시제목앤드류 몽크리프: Moment Point

전시기간2025.05.15(목) - 2025.06.19(목)

참여작가 앤드류 몽크리프

관람시간10:00am - 07:00pm

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장소가나아트 한남 Gana Art Center (서울 용산구 장문로 54 지하 1층)

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