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8/4/2010

Jonathan Meese

CAC Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Malaga

CAC Málaga is presenting the biggest exhibition ever to be held in Spain by Jonathan Meese, an artist whose intention is to question and reflect on art and its actors, or on what he describes as the "Dictatorship of Art", where power falls neither to the artist nor to the museum, but to art as an autonomous entity. Jonathan Meese has described himself as a "cultural exorcist"; although he draws on German Expressionism as a source of inspiration, it is not easy to slot him into any kind of artistic current. Painting, collages, photographs, a performance, sculptures and a set of previously unexhibited ceramics are all part of Meese’s scenographic offering at CAC Málaga.

Obsession, chaos, disconcertment, decadence and disenchantment with religion are some of the stances that Jonathan Meese adopts in order to question reality, resorting to figurative allusions to historical German characters like Wagner and Hitler, to Hollywood actors and actresses, and to comics and horror films. He manages to take his mental resistance to unsuspected heights and imbues his work with the horrors of war, social discontentment and, in short, the history of German art. In his works, Meese almost obsessively repeats certain topics and motifs. For the general public and critics alike, these cause an initial sense of rejection, unease and controversy.

Jonathan Meese (Tokyo, 1970) became known on the international scene after the first Berlin Biennale in 1998, where several artists came together under the banner of "new activism", which recovered the transgressive tradition of contemporary German currents (Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz, for example) and of Viennese Actionism. He and other renowned artist friends like Daniel Richter and Tal R, whose works have already been exhibited at the Centre and with whom he has participated in a number of group exhibitions (Mor, 2006, a video that was part of Tal R’s "Teenager Beach" at CAC Málaga), share the view of art becoming independent from human interests and passions.

"3 x C = CIRCUSSYS CERAMICUSSUS CALIGOLOSSOZ (Once upon a time in Fort Knoxoz)", the title of Jonathan Meese’s exhibition, packs in the double meaning, satire and sense of humour that characterises Jonathan Meese’s work and is a great opportunity to enjoy what one of the leading lights of German art today has to offer.

Press contact:
Elena Padrón Comunications and press coordinator
assisted by Almudena Ríos prensa2@cacmalaga.org

CAC Málaga
C/ Alemania, s/n 29001 Malaga Spain
Hours:
From Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 8.pm

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