Jonathan Meese reveals a more sensitive, introspective side in his solo exhibition at Tim Van Laere Gallery in Antwerp
Tim Van Laere Gallery presents P.O.P.² (POWERPLAY – OVERKILL – PING|PONG) (DR. NO'S MOTHER(Z)) (THEY LIVE), the seventh solo exhibition by Jonathan Meese since the start of his collaboration with the gallery in 2011.
In this solo exhibition, Meese presents a series of new paintings, complemented by several sculptures and an installation. Together, these works reveal a more sensitive and introspective dimension of the Meese universe. Themes such as motherhood, life and death, hope, and dance take center stage, introducing an emotional layering that oscillates between vulnerability and play, seriousness and ecstasy. The energy remains unmistakably Meese, yet here it is infused with a more existential and deeply human resonance.
Jonathan Meese (Tokyo, 1970; lives and works in Berlin and Ahrensburg) is known for his multifaceted oeuvre, which encompasses exuberant paintings, extravagant installations, ecstatic performances and manifestos, as well as a powerful body of sculptural work in a wide range of media. Fueled by a rich and highly personal mythology—replete with symbols, neologisms, and metaphors—Meese’s practice exerts a strong sense of fascination. With apparent ease, he distinguishes himself across every genre through an independent and singular visual language that lends his work an intensity and vitality which, according to curator Robert Fleck, has been unparalleled since Picasso.
A pivotal figure within this mythology is Meese’s mother, Brigitte Meese, who occupies not only a personal but also an artistic central role in his life and work. Their exceptionally close relationship has often been discussed publicly and forms a fundamental emotional driving force behind his practice.
His mother appears throughout his work and performances as muse, protector, archetype, and source of life. For Meese, she embodies an unconditional form of love, devotion, and continuity, which he positions in opposition to the destructive forces of power, ideology, and death. In this exhibition, the mother figure is not presented merely as a biographical element, but as a cosmic principle: the origin of life, a bearer of hope, and a counterweight to transience.
All of Meese’s works contain a form of humor that veers toward the grotesque, alongside a powerful and original creative will. Both are driven and sustained by his pursuit of the sovereignty of art—the dictatorship of art. What this signifies is the development of a new world order in which art holds legislative power and free play forms the foundation of all life and creation. This utopian vision runs as a continuous thread throughout his work, uniting the individual elements of his practice into a Gesamtkunstwerk. Meese does not strive for anarchy, but for the rule of metabolic necessity: “Art is total play.”
Jonathan Meese has exhibited worldwide in leading museums and institutions, including solo exhibitions at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna; CAC Málaga, Málaga; Deichtorhallen Hamburg; and Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. His works are held in numerous international collections, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna; the Harald Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg; Holstebro Museum, Holstebro; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; the Essl Collection, Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; S.M.A.K., Ghent; Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; the Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo; and the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg.
JONATHAN MEESE
P.O.P.² (POWERPLAY – OVERKILL – PING|PONG)
(DR. NO'S MOTHER(Z))
(THEY LIVE)
23 January - 7 March 2026
Tim Van Laere Gallery
Jos Smolderenstraat 50, 2000 Antwerp
