Jonathan Meese

"Introduction to Jonathan Meese"

Jonathan Meese (b. 1970) is one of the most provocative and complex artists on the European contemporary scene. His work, constantly balancing painting, performance, and installation, explores themes of power, myth, and identity with an exuberant and theatrical style.

Meese is known for his baroque and chaotic aesthetic and a body of work that challenges all forms of political and social conformity. Central to his research is the constant exaltation of the "Dictatorship of Art" (Die Diktatur der Kunst), a utopian system where creativity dominates all ideologies. His radical approach makes him a crucial point of reference for 21st-century conceptual and performance art.

Jonathan Meese - Galleria Antonio Damiani

Biography of Jonathan Meese

Jonathan Meese was born in 1970 in Tokyo to a German mother and Welsh father, but grew up in Ahrensburg, Germany. A central figure in European contemporary art, Meese is recognized for his visually compelling and conceptually provocative work, which encompasses painting, sculpture, installation, performance, theater, and writing. His artistic language is an explosion of signs, words, symbols, and references to pop culture, mythology, history, and politics, treated in an iconoclastic and often surreal manner.

After attending the Hamburg University of Fine Arts, he established himself on the international scene in the 2000s with an expressive and radical style, in which the pictorial gesture is understood as a performative and ritual act. His dense and layered paintings seem born from a rebellious unconscious, featuring handwritten slogans, stylized eyes, heraldic symbols, and references to German history. The artist often asserts that "art is dictatorship," a conceptual provocation that seeks to free artistic creation from any ideology, morality, or social conditioning.

At the heart of Jonathan Meese's poetics is the idea of ​​the "Kingdom of Art" (Diktatur der Kunst): a utopian universe in which art alone has the power to decide. In this spirit, the artist questions dominant culture, religion, politics, and authority, using art as a tool of absolute and anarchic liberation. His often chaotic and provocative theatrical performances are a testament to this. Meese has collaborated with prestigious theaters such as the Berlin Volksbühne and the Bayreuther Festspiele, bringing his vision to the opera stage as well.

His solo exhibitions at international institutions—from the Kunsthalle Basel to the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, from the MOCA in Miami to the Centre Pompidou in Paris—have cemented his reputation as a "total" artist, unconventional yet consistent in his ongoing revolution against all forms of non-artistic power. Alongside works on canvas, Meese creates bronze sculptures, immersive installations, and environments dominated by masks, puppets, everyday objects, and cryptic references, in a visual flow that overwhelms the viewer.

Today, Jonathan Meese lives and works between Berlin and Hamburg. He remains one of the most powerful, divisive, and original figures on the contemporary art scene. His poetics are a cry for the independence of art, which in his vision must be an autonomous, radical, and visionary entity, capable of symbolically reshaping society.

Jonathan Meese in the world's museums

AUSTRIA
- Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna
- Essl Museum - Kunst der Gegenwart, Klosterneuburg
- La Petite Ivy Art Collection, Mühldorf

BELGIUM
- IKOB. Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen
- SMAK, Ghent

NETHERLANDS
- Huis Henk Visch, Eindhoven

CANADA
- Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

DENMARK
- Holstebro Museum, Holstebro
- Louisiana-Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
- Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

FRANCE
- Centre Pompidou, Paris
- Musées de Strasbourg, Strasbourg
- Center national des arts plastiques, Paris
- CAPC Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux
- FRAC - Auvergne, Clermont Ferrand
- Frac Lorraine

GERMANY
- About Change Collection, Berlin
- Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg
- Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld
- Kunsthalle Suedwestfalen, Werdohl
- Boros Collection, Berlin
- Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg
- Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn
- Rheingold Collection, Düsseldorf
- Schaufler Collection, Schauwerk Sindelfingen
- Goetz Collection, Munich
- Hoffmann Collection, Berlin
- Städtisches Kunstmuseum Spendhaus, Reutlingen
- Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst (GfZK), Leipzig
- Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg
- Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
- SØR Rusche Sammlung Oelde/Berlin, Oelde-Stromberg
- Sammlung Reinking, Hamburg
- Sammlung Boros, Berlin

ISRAEL
- Doron Sebbag Art Collection, Tel Aviv

ITALY
- Trevi Flash Art Museum, Trevi

JAPAN
- Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo

SOUTH KOREA
- Arario Gallery, Seoul

SPAIN
- Centro de Artes Visuales Fundacíon Helga de Alevar, Cáceres
- Es Baluard Museo d'Arte Moderno y Contemporaneo de Palma, Palma
- CAC Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Málaga, Málaga

UNITED KINGDOM
- Saatchi Gallery, London
- Zabludowicz Collection London, London

UNITED STATES
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
- Hudson Valley Center of Art, Peekskill
- Dela Cruz Collection, Miami
- Rubell, Family Collections, New York
- Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
- The Margulies Collection, Miami
- Hall Art Foundation, Reading
- Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

SWISS
- Bromer Art Collection (BAC), Roggwil-Kaltenherberg

SWEDEN
- Magasin III Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm
- Ståhl Collection, Norrköping

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
- Salsali Collection, Dubai

Solo and group exhibitions

Personal exhibitions

2002, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich

2006, Jonathan Meese – Mama Johnny, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg

2008, Jonathan Meese – Sculpture, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg

2011, Jonathan Meese – Malermaschine, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg

2018, Jonathan Meese – Dr. Zuhause: KUNST (Erzliebe), Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna

2021, Meese, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (ZKM), Karlsruhe

Significant group exhibitions

2004, Manifestation 5, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

2005, Triumph of Painting, Saatchi Gallery, London

2007, Art Basel Statements, Basel

2013, Dada is Dada, MoMA, New York

2015, Deutschland 8 – Chinese-German Contemporary Art, Peking

2020, 30 Years of Sammlung Goetz, Haus der Kunst, Munich

At Galleria Antonio Damiani, we celebrate Jonathan Meese's work as an act of layering and compacting rhetoric, lucidly reflecting on our relationship with the saturated collective imagination and the time of its proliferation.

Jonathan Meese: Market Analysis, Style, and Value of Total Art and Action

Jonathan Meese is a key figure in contemporary German Neo-Expressionism and action art. His work is a constant and aggressive pursuit of "Total Art" (Gesamtkunstwerk), ranging from painting to video, sculpture, and performance. His work is based on the concept of the "Dictatorship of Art" (Kunst-Diktatur), a system in which art frees itself from politics and ideologies, blending historical figures (Caligula, Wagner) with pop culture icons.

Value Drivers: Large Formats and Historic Installations

The most valuable works are the large-format canvases, full of gestural painting, where action and the energy of color dominate. Also particularly sought-after are the complex installations and works directly linked to his most famous performance cycles. Their value is determined by their expressive force, iconographic density, and the documentation of the action work.

Authenticity and Guarantees: Verification of Provenance

Given the highly diverse nature of his production (painting, sculpture, and discarded materials), certification of authenticity requires specialized management. Galleria Damiani only deals with works with impeccable provenance. Security is guaranteed by comprehensive documentation that includes direct references to his studio and a thorough verification of the medium and authorship, essential given the complexity of his installations.

From Specialist Consulting to Sales

From Action Analysis to Correct Quotation: Meese's market requires distinguishing between serial production and unique pieces tied to the action. Get an expert and confidential appraisal of his works or request advice on your investment in contemporary German art.

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