Jonathan Meese

Born 1970 in Tokyo, Japan

Lives and works in Berlin and Ahrensburg, Germany

Jonathan Meese (*1970 in Tokyo, Japan) is currently working in Berlin and Ahrensburg, Germany. His work resembles a stage adopting ever-new roles, costumes and dramaturgy. As well as being an extraordinary performer, Meese stands out as a draftsman, painter, sculptor, author and stage set designer. It seems that, with the greatest of ease, he has developed his own, unmistakable idiom in every genre he works with.

His works share a humour that tends to be grotesque as well as a powerful, authentic creative drive. Both are informed, even driven by art’s aspiration to rule the world, which he described in 2006 for the first time as the “dictatorship of art” – something that he himself has postulated ever since..’ This refers to the development of a new world order in which art is the law-giving force and free play is the basis of all life and creation. This utopian approach can be traced like a red thread running throughout all of the artist’s works, bringing together the individual parts of his production to create a sort of total artwork. Art itself is a utopia, that is to say, a non-site, which stands diametrically opposed to our social reality.

Jonathan Meese’s work has been shown in numerous solo and group shows, such as: Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a.M. (2004), Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (2005), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2006), Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2010), Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Austria (2012), Museum der Moderne, Salzburg (2013), Nationalgalerie Prague (2015), Carré Sainte-Anne, Montpellier (2017), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (2018), Schauspielhauzs, Theater Dortmund (2019); His performances and lectures have been presented at: Nationalgalerie Prag (2015), Volksbühne Berlin, Deutsche Oper, Berlin (2015), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2016), Wiener Festwochen / Parsifal (2017), Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2018) among many more;

His last solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger was held in 2021 and titled DIE DR. MABUSENLOLITA (ZWISCHEN ABSTRAKTION UND WAHN).