Michel Majerus

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Michel Majerus (b. 1967, d. 2002) was an artist whose work combined painting with digital media.^[1]

His work was featured in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Europe and North America, most notably the "Pop Reloaded" exhibition in Los Angeles.

1 Life and early works
2 "Pop Reloaded" (Los Angeles, 2002)
3 Death
4 "Painting Pictures" (Wolfsburg, 2003)
5 "European Retrospective" 2005-2007
6 Painting style
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Life and early works

Majerus was born in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg in 1967.

His artwork first came to international attention in 1996 with an exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Stuttgart, and then with subsequent exhibitions in Munster and Dundee.

In 1998 he was invited to participate in Manifesta 2^[2]. Subsequently in 1999 he created a major work which was presented on the facade of the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

[edit] "Pop Reloaded" (Los Angeles, 2002)

After moving to the United States in 2000, Majerus began work on a series of thirty large-format paintings incorporating digital media and animated videos.

Nine of these works would eventually become the "Pop Reloaded" exhibition in Los Angeles. "Pop Reloaded" emphasised the visual confusion of urban landscapes and the scale and domination imposed by freeway billboards and office towers. It drew on works by Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter in inscribing logos and detail on the dull greys and blacks of a cityscape.

The paintings were accompanied by a video of a constantly changing image of Majerus' signature, to illustrate the idea of celebrity as a constantly changing concept.

[edit] Death

In 2001-02, Majerus' works were exhibited in Berlin, London and New York, and additional works were in production for exhibition in 2002-03.

In November 2002, Majerus was killed in a plane crash while travelling from Berlin to Luxembourg.

[edit] "Painting Pictures" (Wolfsburg, 2003)

A posthumous exhibition of Majerus' works was featured at the Kunstmuseum of Wolfsburg (Germany) in 2003.

Entitled “Painting Pictures”, the exhibition was a celebration of Merjerus' genre and was dedicated to his memory. Other painters represented in “Painting Pictures” included Takashi Murakami, Sarah Morris, Franz Ackermann, Matthew Ritchie, Torben Giehler and Erik Parker.

[edit] "European Retrospective" 2005-2007

Commencing in 2005, approximately two hundred of 200 of Majerus' works have been displayed as the "European Retrospective" travelling exhibition.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Majerus family and the Galerie Neugerriemschneider, Berlin. It includes works usually displayed at the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, the Kunsthaus - Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz and from private collections throughout the world (Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Great-Britain, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Portugal, USA).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Painting style

Majerus’ paintings were configured as mental more than physical spaces. They condensed contemporary signs belonging to pop and youth universe, and the desperate attempt of the artist to use his own free will on them. Pop culture icons, such as videogame heroes and the signs and symbols of electronic music, skateboard culture, gadgets and sneakers, occupied the space.

These images were interrupted by elements of dirtiness, erased zones and unfinished parts that could be considered as interferences. The interferences assumed the meaning of sabotage, where sabotage was intended to be a subversive act to prevent or lessen the faithful reproduction of the nature on canvas. For Majerus, unwanted images from the contemporary pop culture could only be recontextualized, or simply altered. It was not possible to erase them completely.

The idea of sampling in painting is a practice as old as the history of painting itself and become evident with the 20th-century practice of collage and readymade. What was new in Majerus' work is that those existing images were not cut out of the world, but recreated maintaining their original resemblance.