Philip Monaghan and David Trinidad
“Why Are You Doing This To Me?”
December 16, 2015 – May 8, 2016
Washington Square Windows“Why Are You Doing This To Me?” is a visual statement that lifts the scenes from David Trinidad’s iconic poem “The Late Show” revealing the films referenced by the poem. The paintings portray the mock pathos and camp qualities the nineteen films embody. According to Trinidad, the result is sublime. The scenes unfold as the poem does, each frame delivered like a film spools through a projector, capturing the staccato rhythm of the poem. An often horrific quality prevails as each actress’s circumstance and character flaws result in them becoming victims, once again. Holland Cotter, reviewing Monaghan’s previous exhibition of paintings based on a poem by Tim Dlugos wrote, “Mr. Monaghan is admirably faithful to the poem’s text. His layering of painted and printed images reflects its fractured structure. His light-touch, straight-faced brushwork is perfectly suited to its plain-style language and affectless, though dimly forbidding tone.”
