JONATHAN MEESE DOCTOR-DOC-DR.-” HIGHNOON“IS BACK! (WONDERLAND DELARGE)
PhotoCredit: © Jana Edisonga
Four years on from the Meese Haute Couture series and the tribute it paid to Karl Lagerfeld, Jonathan Meese makes a spectacular return to Paris with DOCTOR-DOC-DR.- „HIGH NOON“ IS BACK! (WONDERLAND DE LARGE), an extravagant exhibition delving into the power of tales and legends.
Vidéo © Sylvie Boulloud
The names of a litany of heroes, from Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs to the Smurfs, the Loch Ness monster, Fantômas and Parsifal jump out at us, becoming the standard bearers for a new vision of art. The paintings teem with material, now dripping off the canvas, now crushed to the point of no return, fusing visions of childhood with calls for revolution. Tales, myths and legends are the glue that binds collective culture. And for Jonathan Meese, they are the crucible where the Western imagination is forged as well as a vital source of inspiration in his practice: “Without fairy tales, we wouldn’t be able to build the future,” he says. “The whole world is a fairy tale, the future is in some way our wonderful world. We have a role to play in this all-powerful future. And art determines the future. Art is all-powerful.”
"DRACULA'S DRAGONBABY "MAGIC WOLF"!", 2023 huile et acrylique sur toile de coton non traitée | oil and acrylic on coarse untreated cogon cloth 120.5 x 100.3 x 3.3 cm Photo: Roman März
Over the last twenty or so years, Meese has developed an uncategorizable body of work, lying somewhere between expressionism and actionism, combining painting, sculpture, installations, and performance. His work questions the boundary between culture and nature, creativity and conformism, appearance and power, proposing a singular philosophy where art alone can serve as our guide to the evolving world.
"SCHNAPP' DEN TRAPPERZ, DER DICH ANTEUFELT", 2014 Huile, acrylique, pâte à modeler acrylique sur toile | Oil, acrylic, acrylic modelling paste on canvas 120.8 x 100.5 x 3.3 cm Photo: Jan Bauer
Jonathan Meese was born in Tokyo in 1970 and lives and works in Berlin and Ahrensburg. His work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions since he first exhibited in Berlin and at the Berlin Biennale in 1998. He has taken part in various major group shows such as Generation Z at PS1 in New York (1999), New Blood at the Saatchi Collection in London (2004), and Dionysiac at the Pompidou Centre in Paris (2005). The Deichtorhallen in Hamburg and Magasin de Grenoble organized a retrospective of his work in 2006: Mama Johnny. Other notable exhibitions of his work include those held at the Miami MOCA (2011), Akademie der Künste in Vienna (2012), Prague National Gallery (2015), Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna (2017), Carré Sainte-Anne in Montpellier ( 2017) and Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2018). In 2019, the artist took the Dr Zuhause: K.U.N.S.T (Erzliebe) project to Lübeck, where it occupied all the city's exhibition spaces. In 2022, in collaboration with young artist Conny Maier, he put together a large-scale exhibition entitled Hansel and Gretel (Let me in Ruh’) in Aurich, Germany.
Toutes les images / All images: © Courtesy of the artist and TEMPLON, Paris —Brussels — New York
Jonathan Meese has also created sets and scenery for the theatre and opera, including Dionysos by Wolfgang Rihm, presented at the Salzburg Festival in 2010 and the Staatsoper in Berlin in 2012. He designed the scenery for Charpentier's Médée directed by Pierre Audi at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in 2012. His improvisation on Wagner's Parsifal at the Berlin Staatsoper in 2005 and Homage to Noël Coward at Tate Modern in 2006 were both unforgettable events. In 2007, he wrote and performed De Frau: Dr. Poundaddylein – Dr. Ezodysseusszeusuzur at the Volksbühne in Berlin, and in 2020, he presented a new show, Lolita (R)evolution (Rufschädigendst)-Ihr Alle seid die Lolita Eurer Selbst! at Theater Dortmund. In 2021, during the global pandemic, Jonathan Meese released an acclaimed record in collaboration with renowned electronic music producer DJ Hell, Hab keine Angst, hab keine Angst, ich bin deine Angst [Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm your fear].
The exhibit has been on display since the 2nd of September at the Paris-Beaubourg location and will close on October 28th of this year. For more information about this exhibit, please visit the Templon Gallery website.
