Friedrich Meckseper
On the occasion of his 80th birthday
Jun 7th – Jul 8th, 2016
LEVY Galerie is delighted to present the artist Friedrich Meckseper (*1936) in a show of paintings created between 2000 and 2015.
Precisely depicted objects of everyday life unfold in minimalistic arrangement in the works of the painter, drawer and etcher evoking a mysterious presence: Geometrical bodies, anvils, border stones, tools, geards, coil springs, chimneys, clocks or labyrinths are relieved of their proper function and placed in oddly isolated, room- and timeless compositions.
The surreal dispositions and spatial landscapes recount the traces of man’s measurement of and passage through the world as well as its technical progress; being visual expressions of likewise utopia and nostalgia. Mecksepers technical fascination is rooted in his early career as a locomotive construction engineer that also encouraged him to launch a self-constructed steamboat and cross the Alps numerous times in a gas balloon in the 1970s and 1980s.
Having evolved a distinct aesthetic oscillating between Surrealism, Magical and Fantastic Realism Friedrich Meckseper occupies an important stance in German post-war art next to artists as Konrad Klapheck. In the course of the rediscovery of (fine-)mechanical painting, originating in the 1970s, exhibitions are going to be realized i.a. at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt in the near future.
In conjunction with the exhibition a catalogue is publiziced at Kerber Publishers including a text by Belinda Grace Gardner. For further information and image requests please contact the gallery.