Jonathan Meese and Tal R
dal 30/11/2006 al 22/12/2006
Segnalato da
30/11/2006
Jonathan Meese and Tal R
Bortolami Gallery, New York
Mother. The result of this collaboration is an exploration of the associations with this monumental figure through various media, materials and narratives. Works in painting, sculpture, photography and collage analise the various sentiments, and attributions that are given to the one person who gave us life.
Mother
Bortolami Dayan is proud to bring to New York, Mother, an
exhibition by Jonathan Meese and Tal R. The result of this collaboration was first shown at the
Statens Museum for Kunst
in Copenhagen in 2005 followed by The Deichtorhallen in Hamburg in
2006. For the exhibition in the gallery, German artist Jonathan Meese joins his
Danish colleague, Tal R,
in exploring the associations with this monumental figure through
various media,
materials and narratives. Housed within a giant pink castle, the
artists each create unique
works in painting, sculpture, photography and collage.
Initially, these artists seem like an unlikely pair. Tal R’s work
seeks out fantastical stories
that are replete with odd figures, animals, food and inanimate
objects juxtaposed with
abstract patterning and geometric shapes all rendered in a naive,
self-taught style.
Whereas the paintings are tableaus of color, the sculptures are pared
down to their basics rendered in bronze and aluminum. Jonathan Meese’s work touches
on grand narratives
and heroic themes, particularly German history - figures such as
Nietzsche, Wagner, self-
portraits as well as film and rock stars appear appropriately
rendered with a gestural and
expressionistic hand. Because of the inevitable heavy associations
with these figures, there
are multiple points from which to approach the work, all of which are
left to the viewer for
interpretation.
Mother explores the various sentiments, associations, and
attributions that are given to the
one person who gave us life. Photographs of the artists’ mothers as
well as Freudian
references are incorporated within the paintings, drawings and
sculptures that fill the pink
fortress. The exhibition will create a very diverse and multi-
dimensional view of the mother
figure and explores the various emotions that she elicits.
Jonathan Meese was born in 1971 in Tokyo and lives and works in
Berlin and Hamburg.
This year he had a solo exhibition at MAGASIN Centre National d’Art,
Grenoble and at the
Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. He was represented in the Berlin
Biennial in 1998 and
more recently performed in Wagner’s, Parsifal in Berlin. Tal R was
born in 1967 in Israel
and lives and works in Copenhagen. In 2007 he will have a solo
exhibition at the Louisiana
Museum for Moderne Kunst in Copenhagen. In 2002 Tal R received the
prestigious Carnegie Art Award and in 2004 he received the Eckersberg Medal. He
is an honorary professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Dusseldorf.
Image: Jonathan Meese
Opening reception - 6pm to 8pm
Bortolami Dayan Gallery
510 West 25th Street - NYC
Free admission