Heidi Herrera
Cataloguer
Lot 41
PHILIP MONAGHAN(B. 1954)The Professor Looks at Her, 2009
Ending from 2 May 2025, 12:00 PDT
Online, Los AngelesUS$2,000 - US$3,000
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Sharon Squires
Head of Department, Post-War & Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Bids (US)
PHILIP MONAGHAN (B. 1954)
The Professor Looks at Her, 2009
signed 'Monoghan'(on the reverse)
oil on canvas
18 x 24 in.
45.7 x 61 cm.
signed 'Monoghan'(on the reverse)
oil on canvas
18 x 24 in.
45.7 x 61 cm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Courtesy of the artist
Exhibited
New York, Fales Library, New York University, At Moments Like These He Feels Farthest Away, 26 January-29 April 2011
Literature
OUT Magazine, The Love Issue, February 2011
"I am a long-term survivor of HIV. I mean that in the sense that today I live with the virus; I lived through the before days as an out and proud gay man; then I bore witness to friends, partners and colleagues perishing from the disease; then I had to live with the consequences of so much grief and loss.
After many years of living in fear of my own death and the deaths of those closest to me, I turned towards my fear and took actions to change my perspective. One of these actions was to recall the project that Tim Dlugos, whom I briefly dated, and I planned in 1983. And that was to create a visual statement around his poem, "Gilligan's Island." His 1977 poem stands out for its knowing references to pop culture, his longing for love and his unique way of jumbling up historical events to create a new narrative about gay life.
This painting, "The Professor Looks at Her", is part of the section of the poem about the characters' lives on the island. The Professor, a strong intellectual archetype who is oblivious to women's charms, is pursued by the sexy Marilyn Monroe doppelgänger, Ginger. Her psychedelic gown sets the show in the 60s, as does her bouffant hair. The palm tree backdrops are, of course fake, part of a Studio City soundstage. As young gay boys, many of us had a crush on the Professor. And Ginger's drag would satisfy our queer need to play dress up.
The frivolity of this scene belies the reality of what was happening in real time as Tim wrote this poem. HIV was already with us. And some of us would not survive it." -Philip Monaghan
Artist Statement: Philip Monaghan is a painter currently living in Rancho Mirage, CA. He is from New York City. He received his BFA in Studio Art from Texas Tech University in 1976 and his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York in 1979. Following a career in fashion branding where he collaborated with talents such as photographer Bruce Weber, artist Andy Warhol, and branding expert Peter Arnell, he started a studio practice in 2007. His work has been reviewed by numerous publications, including The New York Times.