The ill Art of Lucas Monaco

"Untitled 48" 2009 21in x 32in pencil on paper 

From a distance Lucas Monaco's pencil and ink drawings look like stills taken from a slightly dark psychedellic expedition. Thick fluid forms wind round each other, in curvey shapes to dissolve back again into imperceptible globular vortexes. Step closer however, and an entirely different scene reveals itself;  tightly packed and precise linework emerges which resonates more with the manic meticulouslness of say amphetamines than looseness of hallucinagens. 

"Untitled 18" 2008 8in x 10in  Ink on paper 

Monaco's most recent drawings are, in effect, abstract cosmic bodies of pencil and ink that only grow more ethereal by the revelation of thousands of swooshing strokes crammed together without any percipticple overlap. However based on a general lack of titles given by Monaco to these nebulus images, it seems likely that the artist may be engaged in an exploratory stage of a larger conception that has yet to unfold. Then again, maybe he's had enough hard thinking about art and just wants to dose and doodle for a while. That's fine by me too-- though I don't ride the LSD train much these day, I sure don't mind a good flashback, especially when it's art induced. 

"Fatburger From Here" 2007 40in x 60in ink on paper 

This process of the artists' sense of curiosity, concept and production can be seen in his previous body of work, a series of topographic cityscapes. What began as cartographic studies of real locations such as Los Angeles, Newark and the Bronx utilizing satellite imagery as reference points, evolved into purely imagined, yet plausibly congested landscapes that look as if they were pulled from the sketchbook of an urban planner either from a not too distant future or parallel world in which the principles of real estate expansion both upwards and outwards apply.

"Flicker" 2008 25ft installation at Museo De Las Americas

In both series, Monaco extrudes his subjects, placing them like cross sections from larger landscapes on a white backdrop, be it a piece of paper, or a gallery wall. The void surrounding his renderings increases their sense of spacial overcrowding by contrast and leave one feeling as if perhaps some a voracious nothingness is about to swallow the metropolis of lines, be they earthly or otherwise. 

Lucas Monaco is currently a part of the Fine Line exhibit at Museo De Las Americas in Denver, will show there along with Carlos Capelán, Maximo Gonzalez, Mauro Ariel Koliva, and Ricardo Rendón  until August 31. 

Check out more of Locas Monaco's work here