Jonathan Monk

Jonathan Monk is an artist based in Berlin.

What artworks would you have/do you have in your drawing room?

Over the years I've amassed a number of different artworks – this wasn't something I planned…

I do move things around a little and occasionally lend things for exhibitions.

At present I have a Circle on the Wall by Ian Wilson from 1968 – on a hook hangs an Alighiero e Boetti watch... Orologio Annuale from 1990. Most of the works I own were traded, either with the artist or through dealers or collectors. One complete wall is taken up by a Daniel Buren A Diagonal for a Rhodamine Red (2006) and I cheekily installed a Martin Kippenberger edition Haus Schloss Case on the same wall.

Stars and Stripes

I spent years piecing together Robert Barry's Invitation Piece... the last two parts I eventually got from the artist. We traded them for a picture of a dog that I proposed had received his telepathic piece.

In the loo I have two framed Bas Jan Aders invitation cards In Search Of The Miraculous installed above the toilet...

If it were possible (and to save space) I'd have all of the above in one Louise Lawler photograph.
 

What books would you read/are you reading in your drawing room?

I just flicked through a copy of Richard Prince's What's In My Library – I'm quite eclectic... well I thought I was, but... in the same stack of books are two copies of Morrissey's Autobiography, Kim Gordon's Girl In A Band, Purity by Jonathan Franzen, John le Carré's A Delicate Truth and I recently finished A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara which was quite a difficult read and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and I'm about finish Nell Zink's Mislaid... which I enjoy(ed).

What movies would you watch/are you watching in your drawing room?

I try to watch films in the cinema, but this requires a selection process. I'm not good at that.

All foreign films are dubbed on German TV but Netflix has changed that.

Netflix is generally good but they make it difficult sometimes – they never seem to have exactly what you are looking for. I'm sure it is very carefully curated to encourage the viewers to slowly lean towards Netflix's own productions.

Recently I watch the Cohen Brothers The Ballad of Buster Scruggs which I thought was brilliant!

Some time ago I did watch The Breakfast Club with my teenage children – I'm pleased I didn't watch it with my parents when it was first released..

What music would you listen to/are you listening to in your drawing room?

I grew up in 1970's England and my father listened to Jazz music so I listened to Jazz music.

I was aware of punk music in the mid to late 1970's but only really developed my own musical taste in the early 1980's – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Velvet Underground lead into what now might be be called post punk – Joy Division, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Smiths, New Order etc. These bands all performed live in my home town a number of times... I tried to see as much as I could afford. This all shifted slightly when I went to art school and beyond but...

I generally listen to the same kind of music now – with a few more contemporary additions. 

Who would you/do you invite into your drawing room?

Anyone who can draw...