Jonathan Meese. Die Irrfahrten des Meese

Zusatztext

Jonathan Meese's world views and reflections on mythology and the power of art are voiced not only in the mediums of painting, sculpture, installation, and performance; Meese also uses language as a material. The artist's use of image and text - both playful and thoughtful at once - is at the focal point of this exhibition, which includes works from the last twenty-five years. A look back brings the central themes of Meese's oeuvre into sharp relief. In the early works one can observe the complex first formulations of these themes, including: gestures and insignias of power, male and female warriors, fairy-tale villains, night terrors in the children's room, and the ambivalence of evil. As a counterbalance, the unexpectedly tender appears in Meese's pictorial cosmos. The artist designed a carpet-diagram exclusively for the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. It provides the topography of the exhibition and thus unites 'Meese's Odyssey' as a Gesamtkunstwerk. In the Greek epic poem the 'Odyssey', the hero Odysseus embarks on a series of dangerous adventures and faces mysterious challenges - and, in the end, returns home changed. For the first time Jonathan Meese comments on his motifs in form of a glossary, extended by a conversation with the artist, as well as by extracts from an interview Sven Michalsen conducted for SZ Magazin. Text: Swantje Grundler, Bernhard Maaz, Jonathan Meese, Sven Michaelsen, Bernhart Schwenk

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