Meuser, Pi mal Daumen, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 191 x 150 x 50 cm

Meuser »Close to the Material«

Mexico City, May 26, 2021 - June 25, 2021

Galerie Nordenhake Mexico presents the first exhibition of the German artist Meuser (Essen, 1947) in Mexico, and his 8th exhibition since our first collaboration in Stockholm in 1990. Meuser is an artist situated on the edge of sculpture, painting, and installation. In this exhibition, he presents a group of fourteen new sculptures created upon the observation of objects and waste left by industrialization. In his formative days, Meuser attended Joseph Beuys' class at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and actively collaborated with key artists from the German art scene of the 1980s such as Martin Kippenberger. In 1992 he participated in documenta IX. That same year, he became professor of sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy Karlsruhe, where he mentored a new generation of artists.

Meuser's work can be read as a critique of North American minimalism, through the pragmatic use of strategies such as objet trouvé and collage, exploring the creative potential of prefabricated and found elements in various ways. After being combined and partially painted, iron sheets are assembled into new objects and transferred into new spatial and semantic contexts. In this process, the elements that make up each object are no longer effective individually and are rather reintegrated as an independent unit. The titles of the works are narrative, use humor and double entendre to convey uncomfortable or suggestive messages, and characterize the subversive spirit of the artist. The objects reveal the unmistakable, deformed, and destructive impact of force. Far from emphasizing the hardness and resistance of the starting material, Meuser highlights the flexibility and supposed softness of his found objects.

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Meuser was born in 1947 in Essen and currently lives and works in Karlsruhe. Between 1968 and 1976, he studied with Joseph Beuys and Erwin Heerich at Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. His work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions including Knautsch, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe (2011), Die Frau reitet und das Pferd geht zu Fuß, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2008), Oldenburger Kunstverein (2003), Metrostation Oberkampf, Staatliche Kunstakademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe (1996), and Kunsthalle Zürich (1991). Among his group exhibitions are: Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen, Museo de Arte Contemporanéo Gas Natural Fenosa, A Coruña (all 2015), aubrokprojects fahrbereitschaft in Berlin, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn (both 2013), Kunsthalle Darmstadt (2012), Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin (2010), Bonner Kunstverein (2007), ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe (2006, 2002), Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund (2001). In 1992 he participated in documenta IX in Kassel.
His works can be found in notable public and private collections such as Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Museum Ludwig, Köln, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, ZKM / Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Sammlung Grässlin, St. Georgen, The Margulies Collection, Miami, Sammlung Viehof, Mönchengladbach. In March 2017, his most recent exhibition at Galerie Nordenhake took place in Mexico.

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Installation view.

Installation view.

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 150 x 62 x 44 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 150 x 62 x 44 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 100 x 110 x 58 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 100 x 110 x 58 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 100 x 110 x 58 cm

Meuser, Pi mal Daumen, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 191 x 150 x 50 cm

Meuser, Pi mal Daumen, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 191 x 150 x 50 cm

Meuser, Pi mal Daumen, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 191 x 150 x 50 cm

Installation view.

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 135 x 140 x 72 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 135 x 140 x 72 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 135 x 140 x 72 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 75 x 80 x 27 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 75 x 80 x 27 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 75 x 80 x 27 cm

Installation view.

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 120 x 54 x 30 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 120 x 54 x 30 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 160 x 58 x 40 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 160 x 58 x 40 cm

Meuser, Immer Ärger mit dem Zimmerservice, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 200 x 110 x 30 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 92 x 44 x 32 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 92 x 44 x 32 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 92 x 44 x 32 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 110 x 62 x 12 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 110 x 62 x 12 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 40 x 42 x 19 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 40 x 42 x 19 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 40 x 42 x 19 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 125 x 14 x 14 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 125 x 14 x 14 cm

Meuser, Manneken Pis, 2021, Steel and oil paint, 118 x 145 x 65 cm

Meuser, Manneken Pis, 2021, Steel and oil paint, 118 x 145 x 65 cm

Meuser, Manneken Pis, 2021, Steel and oil paint, 118 x 145 x 65 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 105 x 34 x 21 cm

Meuser, Untitled, 2020, Steel and oil paint, 105 x 34 x 21 cm