When we received an email that Flavorpill favorite Alyssa Monks was part of a group show opening next week LA’s Carmichael Gallery, we were curious what she’s been up to lately; as it turns out, her recent output is a continuation of the portraits of bathing beauties that she has been working on for the past few years. As Monks explained to us back in 2009, she was drawn to working with water because it allowed her subjects to inhabit a space between Realism and Abstraction. “There are all these ways that water can act on the body. I liked how it added distortion and abstraction, how it could create new texture. It allowed me to use the paint in a more lose, fresh way. The danger with working from a photograph is to flatten things and be really tight; with the water you can’t paint that way. You have to invent water out of paint.” While her larger-than-life paintings are best viewed in person, click through to get a taste of her work.
Alyssa Monks, Tell, 2011. 30×20, oil on panel
Alyssa Monks, Squid, 2011. 48×32, oil on linen
Alyssa Monks, Window II, 2011, 48×36, oil on linen
Alyssa Monks, Risk, 2011. 11×16, oil on panel
Alyssa Monks, As Is, 2011. 54×36, oil/linen
Alyssa Monks, Stroke, 2010. 11×16, oil on panel
Alyssa Monks, Bait, 2010. 58×86, oil on linen
Alyssa Monks, Stare, 2010. 64×96, oil on linen
Alyssa Monks, Scream, 2010. 48×72, oil on linen
Alyssa Monks, Up, 2010. 42×36, oil on linen