These days artists all want to be corporations, start ups, or brands, WHAT A DRAG!!
The truth is I don’t hate mondays, I think they are pretty great. I think about Mondays in the way most of the world does, as the start of the work week, but I always liked going back to work. Life is different now though, imperialist post-fordism is a whole thing, creative types and tele-web-coffee shop commuters have run amok and now the paradigm of the work week is all but gone (the banks are about the only ones still holding on). On Christmas Eve at 11:37pm in 2016 your boss doesn’t care if you’re in the middle of your annual Love Actually ‘Net!ix and Chill’ they expect you to answer your phone or email or Slack or inter-company IRC chat so the client’s servers don’t go of!ine. So the suit is out, and hoodies are in.
This art show is about being a different kind of artist (and I’m not talking about reviving painting).
This art show is about being the non-binary change in the world the social justice warriors on your twitter feed want to see. Remem- ber beauty? We still care about that, the sublime too. Ambiguity is our favourite. We take the fucked up lemons of our contemporary technocracy and make that sweet divine lemonade you had after hiking Le Chemin de Nietzsche in Eze. We’re sick of food served on wood boards and you’re going to hear about it. This is a #TBT to perfection glimmering in the petal of a peony. We serve the lasagna that makes you remember hiding under the table eating the scraps of your grandmother’s pasta dough.
I watched the mustard „eld outside Charles de Gaulle radiate peace while remembering the Kentucky criminal on TV that always said “nothing is free but the grace of God”. He was right.
We believe love is more than an economy based on resource scarcity. We are keeping the faith.

Exhibition view “I Hate Mondays” MonCHERI, Brussels, Belgium, 2016, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHER, Brussels.
Exhibition view “I Hate Mondays” MonCHERI, Brussels, Belgium, 2016, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHER, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Watermelon Tomato Lime,2016 print on linen, 140 x 200 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Enzymatic Aloe Tonic,2016, Tensile “Flite” Tree Tent, Pico projector with media player and digital video loop, various pillows, blankets, plush toys, 10 in. Samsung Digital Sign with digital video loop, Plush Panda Bear headphones, various phone chargers dimensions variables, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Exhibition view “I Hate Mondays” MonCHERI, Brussels, Belgium, 2016, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHER, Brussels.
Exhibition view “I Hate Mondays” MonCHERI, Brussels, Belgium, 2016, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHER, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Golden Tonic,2016, plastic oranges, acrylic, 64 in. Transparent LCD, Monitor Display Unit and digital video loop 118 x 78 x 40 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Golden Tonic,2016 DETAIL, plastic oranges, acrylic, 64 in. Transparent LCD Monitor Display Unit and digital video loop 118 x 78 x 40 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Exhibition view “I Hate Mondays” MonCHERI, Brussels, Belgium, 2016, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHER, Brussels.
Exhibition view “I Hate Mondays” MonCHERI, Brussels, Belgium, 2016, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHER, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Blue Moon Water,2016 digital video loop 53,5 x 93 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Hang in There No2,2016, Inkjet print, molding paste, roll-a-tex and acrylic on canvas 51 x 41 x 6 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Hang in There No3,2016, Inkjet print, molding paste, roll-a-tex and acrylic on canvas 51 x 41 x 6 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Hang in There No 1, 2016, DETAIL, Inkjet print, molding paste, roll-a-tex and acrylic on canvas 51 x 41 x 6 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Hang in There No4,2016, Inkjet print, molding paste, roll-a-tex and acrylic on canvas 51 x 41 x 6 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning, Tumeric Gold, 2016, acrylic on canvas 80 x 60 cm, © Ludovic Beillard / Courtesy of the artist and monCHERI, Brussels.
Michael Manning (b. 1985) lives and works in Los Angeles. His work explores alternative approaches to producing and distributing traditional art objects using technology and social networking. Manning makes paintings, videos, and installations that stem from the internet and software, utilizing the crypto-materiality of computer technology in conjunction with his interest punk counterculture movements. Manning has had recent solo exhibitions at Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach; Last Resort Gallery, Copenhagen; CURA, Rome; Sommer Contemporary, Tel Aviv; and Carl Kostyal, Stockholm. He has also been included in group exhibitions at notable institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Eyebeam Center for the Arts, New York.
MONCHÉRI
MICHAEL MANNING
I Hate Mondays
19.04.2016 – 04.06.2016
67 rue de la Régence
1000 Bruxelles