Josephine Meckseper, an artist renowned for her politically loaded, anti-materialist creations carried out in a variety of mediums (largely collages and installations), is holding her first solo UK exhibition at the Timothy Taylor Gallery...
Who: Josephine Meckseper, an artist renowned for her politically loaded, anti-materialist creations carried out in a variety of mediums (largely collages and installations), is holding her first solo UK exhibition at Timothy Taylor Gallery.
What: Included in the exhibition are three of Meckseper’s emblematic vitrines – mini-mausoleums to modern day culture which contain a plethora of re-objectified items and images, taken out of their common mediated contexts and presented as highly satirical window displays. The resulting effect of these enclosed, visually unsettling stimuli upon the audience is one of uneasy self-reflection, enhanced literally by the frequent incorporation of mirrors within the works. Also featured is a selection of Meckseper’s ‘slatwall’ paintings – Pop Art-inspired pieces, in terms of their inclusion of photographs, real objects and silkscreens, but given a mimimalist, Judd-like spin through their use of chrome and mirror. They appear both monumental and authoritative, acting as affective post-war consumer critiques in their subversion of the viewers’ response to US insignia and signs of power.
Why: German-born Meckseper, now based in New York, looks to uproot and shed light on the growing number of problems caused by capitalism, particularly driving home the point that political dogma and consumerism are one and the same; that essentially we are what we buy. “The mirror and chrome sculptures, glass-and-steel vitrines, and mirror slatwalls are not affirmations or glorifications of consumerism,” Meckseper explains, “Their shiny surfaces are meant as provocations for destruction. They are designed to be targets, like high-end shop windows being smashed during riots and protests. These works mimic retail aesthetics in order to activate the commercial zone into a political one.”
Josephine Meckseper opens today and runs until November 12 2011.
Text by Daisy Woodward
