(born 1970 in Tokyo; lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg)
‘Der Grizzley Marshall, 1. Bürger Dawson’s’, monogrammed and dated J. M, 2002, titled, signed and dated on the reverse J Meese 2002, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, framed

Provenance:
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin (label and two stamps on the reverse)

Jonathan Meese is one of the best-known contemporary German artists. His to an equal extent uncomfortable and powerfully autonomous oeuvre polarises audiences. Meese’s varied output is characterised by, among other things, his dealings with personalities from world history, archaic myths and heroic epics, which the artist condenses into a literally fantastical whole with the addition of elements derived from popular culture. He uncompromisingly proclaims his utopian idea of a ‘dictatorship of art’ in his references to ostracised figures and symbols as well German (contemporary) history. Always treading on the narrow line of humorous distortion, as an artist he is well aware of being socially provocative. (‘Malermeese-Meesermaler’, Museum der Moderne Salzburg)

The present work, ‘Der Grizzley Marshall, 1. Bürger Dawson’s’ depicts a grizzly bear wearing the uniform of a marshall, the highest military rank, here referred to as the first citizen of Dawson. Dawson, a small Canadian town, is located in the northwesternmost area on the Yukon River, close to the border with Alaska. Grizzly bears constituted an important part of the culture of the native inhabitants of the Yukon before they came into contact with Europe. Grizzly bears were frequently hunted, and natives used their claws and fur during ceremonies, integrating them into the dances, myths and legends.

From the Schumacher Collection Part II