Pentti Monkkonen (b. 1975, Minneapolis, MN USA)

Pentti Monkkonen tunes a strident chord with his playful monuments, rendered both large and small in the heavy medium of cast bronze and always fraught with potent meta-narratives. His contribution to Instant LA Summer 2 : HEAVY HAPPY is a new sculpture entitled Hydra, a multi-headed bronze beast reminiscent of a late Louise Bourgeois that wails endless perfidious melodramas both private and public, yet finally begets transcendent, albeit uncertain, laughter. 

Monkkonen received his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004 and his MFA from Vermont College. Select galleries, institutions and outdoor venues that have exhibited his work include the Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY (2009), Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (2008), Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles (2007), Daniel Hug Gallery, Los Angeles (2005), General Store, Milwaukee (2003), ACME, Los Angeles (2002, 1999) and the Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2000). He currently works and lives in Los Angeles. 

Image: Pentti Monkkonen, Hydra, 2006, bronze and concrete, 72 x 72 x 48 inches (182.88 x 182.88 x 121.92 cm).

(c) Pentti Monkkonen