Kunsthalle Düsseldorf

Meuser

10 May - 20 Jul 2008

Meuser
Deutsche Bundesbahn, 1996
Eisen, Kunststoff, Lackierung
130 x 45 x 45 cm
Courtesy Galerie Bärbel Grässlin
Meuser
10th May — 20th July 2008

The Kunsthalle will present a comprehensive solo exhibition of works by Meuser (b. in 1947). Meuser studied under Joseph Beuys and Erwin Heerich at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1968 until 1972. In 1992 he took part in the documenta IX. During the same year he was appointed professor at the State Academy for Fine Arts Karlsruhe. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.

Found objects form the starting point for the majority of Meuser's sculptures, wall objects, paintings and installative arrangements. Meuser adorns massive constructional elements, such as T-girders, gratings, shelving systems and metal plates with predominantly monochrome paint and orders the individual objects into equally well-conceived if apparently random compositions that deprive the objects of their weight, creating a high level of aesthetic as well as contextual tension. Meuser's works engage with the wealth of industrially generated forms and their inherent symbolic nature without necessarily being figurative. Connections to both Minimal Art and to abstract painting can be discerned in his work. At the same time his works defy unequivocal art historical categorisation and strive again and again with reference to the concrete for that calculated break. Meuser is increasingly becoming an important figure of reference for the emerging generation of young artists interested in abstract sculpture and painting as well as architecture.

The exhibition collates works from the late 1970s to the present day, amongst them many artworks from on loan from international collections. The presentation of these artworks will be prepared in close collaboration with the artist and in consideration of the special architectural properties of the Kunsthalle.
 

Tags: Joseph Beuys, Erwin Heerich, Meuser