Harding Meyer - Harding Meyer

06.11.2019 - 24.01.2020

Images of the Exhibition


Description

On Wednesday, 6 November 2019, Galerie Jahn in Landshut is opening an exhibition of paintings by the internationally renowned artist Harding Meyer. The virtuoso and spectacular oil paintings are not so much portraits in the true sense as symbols for an enlightened human image in general and in art in particular. The gallery is continuing its series on realism in contemporary painting with this solo exhibition. 

Born in Brazil in 1964, Harding Meyer is one of the best-known realists in the field of conceptual painting. His painting thrives on the fascination that the image of man exerts on the viewer. It becomes clear here that this cannot be about superficial appearance. In his work, Harding Meyer deals with the multi-layered theme of today's relationship between art, man and media. He questions this complex relationship by combining the various thematic fields in one work. On the one hand, he uses the portrait form, which  reached its peak during the Renaissance period, and on the other he uses unknown models emerging from the fast-moving world of media. His models come from television and the Internet and are subsequently alienated by him. In the end, he creates new faces, focusing on the area between the hairline and the chin.
 
In his work, he is essentially concerned with examining the ideals of beauty and image typologies that are generally used in the mass media. In his new works he shows the fragility of this superficiality beyond these stereotypes and standardised clichéd images. The person always remains the focus and their eyes have the viewer keenly in their sights as if they want to say: Take a good look and take a good look at yourself!
 
Harding Meyer adds a particularly spectacular aspect to the series of exhibitions on realism in painting by undermining what had always been the essence of fascination in his works: beauty! By taking away all its pathos and addressing it empathetically, he adds a particularly interesting facet to the series. 

Exhibition opening: Wednesday, 6 November 2019, 7.30 p.m. 

Exhibition runs from 6 November 2019 to 24 January 2020