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Pace Publishing

William Monk

The Ferryman

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Publication Details:

Text by Mark Beasley, Suzanne Hudson, John Yau
Design by Other Means
2023
Paperback
160 pages
10 ½ × 8 in

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Published on the occasion of William Monk’s three-venue exhibition in New York, The Ferryman guides the reader through each installation to mirror the artist’s exploration of the journey from this life into the next.

William Monk is known for his atmospheric, vibrant paintings that feature mysterious and otherworldly forms. Engaged with notions of the afterlife, Monk’s enigmatic new series The Ferryman is comprised of large-scale paintings and smaller compositions that draw from a range of visual and literary sources, from Yellow Submarine to Greek mythology.⁠

Designed by Gary Fogelson of Other Means, this paperback volume presents this entire body of work in a visual narrative, utilizing cinematic proportions and text treatment to replicate the experience of Monk’s careful spatial arrangements. A conversation between the artist and poet John Yau provides new insight into the artist’s practice, while text by art historian and critic Suzanne Hudson explores the nuances of the ferryman figure and his psychedelic environment.

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In the past people worshipped the sun, then we created images to worship—angels for example. All these things were there to fill the gap between what we know and don’t know. But, they do betray how ill-equipped we are to know anything meaningful. My Ferryman is my own ill-fated version of this—my own angel.

William Monk

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Monk’s Ferryman is not a matter of doctrine or liturgy, but an example of how edgeless thought—what exceeds representation, what, categorically, can never produce realism—finds artistic complement. He offers each Ferryman not as a salve—for they harbor the potential for self-immolation as well as becoming—but a painted incantation.

Suzanne Hudson

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William Monk

The Ferryman

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  • Pace Publishing — William Monk: The Ferryman, Aug 15, 2023