Jonathan Meese is a self-proclaimed cultural exorcist. In his performances, sculptures and paintings he adopts a shamanistic role, channeling all manner of chaotic zeitgeist. His personal interests reverberate throughout his paintings: comic books, horror films, medieval crusades and outsider art merge into a compendium of morality and epic failure. His works are filled with references to history, literature, pop culture and the art world. Meese explains that these figures are complete in themselves; they cannot be reduced, but are summed up in their name or their image, such as Napoleon, Darth Vader, Alex De Large, Ezra Pound.

Jonathan Meese, born in Tokyo in 1970, studied at the Hamburg Art Academy His first works came out in the international contemporary art scene at the Berlin Biennial in 1998.

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Museums collections:

Jonathan Meese work may be found in the collection of many important public institutions, including Centre Pompidou, Pari; Musees de Strassbourg, Strassbourg; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld; Arario Gallery, South Korea; Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg; Saatchi, London.

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