Erratic paint strokes, cardboard canvases, and photographs of German monuments. And wait, is that a male model in 2(X)ist boxer briefs? Josephine Meckseper’s work can seem cryptic. But look closer and one sees complex layers of ideas: her paintings and installations explore consumer culture––yes, that includes boxer briefs––as well as German identity and politics.
Raised in the historic artists' colony Worpswede by a political family––her mother is a former Green party representative––Meckseper says becoming an artist "wasn't so much a choice" as "the natural environment," she told the WSJ. This is perhaps why she recently chose to return to her hometown to photograph the monument Niedersachsenstein. Created by expressionist artist Bernhard Hoetger to honor fallen WWI soldiers, it was later coined "degenerate" art by the Nazi regime. "It's tucked inside of a forest and when I grew up people didn't really go there," Meckseper told Interview. "People would rather try to forget about it—nobody wanted to be reminded of the war at that point."
Andrea Rosen Gallery
525 W. 24th St
New York, NY 10011
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Raised in the historic artists' colony Worpswede by a political family––her mother is a former Green party representative––Meckseper says becoming an artist "wasn't so much a choice" as "the natural environment," she told the WSJ. This is perhaps why she recently chose to return to her hometown to photograph the monument Niedersachsenstein. Created by expressionist artist Bernhard Hoetger to honor fallen WWI soldiers, it was later coined "degenerate" art by the Nazi regime. "It's tucked inside of a forest and when I grew up people didn't really go there," Meckseper told Interview. "People would rather try to forget about it—nobody wanted to be reminded of the war at that point."
So what’s with the boxer briefs? Meckseper, who lives in New York, got her MFA in the 90s at CalArts, where she first became interested in the culture of American shopping malls. Consumerism has since been a focus of her work, from a 2009 video about the Mall of America to installations that mimic store window displays to paintings that appropriate perfume ads. But like Niedersachsenstein, even shopping mall culture is something that's now a part of history more than the present: "It's about looking at something that's disappearing in our culture," Meckseper said.
Through January 18, 2014 | Josephine Meckseper at Andrea Rosen Gallery
Andrea Rosen Gallery
525 W. 24th St
New York, NY 10011
MAP
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