Michel Majerus
what looks good today may not look good tomorrow
June 24 - October 16, 2005
Stedelijk Museum CS
Post CS building, 2nd story
Oosterdokskade 5
Amsterdam
Open: daily from 10:00 am through 6:00 p.m.
www.stedelijk.nl
When Michel Majerus passed away in 2002, at the age of 35, he left behind an impressive oeuvre. He did not limit himself to two-dimensional surfaces, but created dynamic, painted installations which surround the viewer. A series of retrospective exhibitions featuring his large scale, three-dimensional installations, wall paintings, a selection of his paintings from the period 1994-2002 and video sculptures began in Kunsthaus Graz, where it was to be seen from February 12 to May 16, 2005. In variations the retrospective travels to Amsterdam, where it opens on June 24, and subsequently to Hamburg, Hanover and Luxembourg.
Majerus, who spent his working life primarily between Berlin and Los Angeles, had his breakthrough in the mid 1990s as one of the most striking and talented painters of his generation. The title of the exhibition, what looks good today may not look good tomorrow, is borrowed from one of his works, and refers to the world of advertising, corporate design, comic strips and computer games, from which he drew considerable inspiration.
Majerus oeuvre consists of an accumulation of citations, styles and visual motifs, not just from popular culture but also from art history, particularly from Minimal and Pop Art. He made no distinction between high and low; for him, Super Mario and Toy Story were just as important as Warhol, Richter, Basquiat and De Kooning. In his eyes all visual media were equal, and should be shown in relationship with each other.
Traditional artistic concepts such as authenticity and originality did little for Majerus. My work functions precisely around the fact that every claim to authentic culture and ways of living is an illusion, he himself once commented with regard to his work, which can be situated in the popular culture of the 1990s.
Stedelijk Museum CS:
Michel Majerus what looks good today may not look good tomorrow
What looks good today may not look good tomorrow in Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam, is Majerus first retrospective show in The Netherlands. It brings together his most important works, including the early painted installation gemälde, from 1994 (neugerriemschneider, Berlin), the installation the space is where youll find it with its monumental computer prints (originally made for Delfina, London, 2000), and the paintings in billboard format he made during his stay in Los Angeles in 2001.
For more information and how to get there please check www.stedelijk.nl
For press information please mail to pressoffice@stedelijk.nl
Majerus on Tour
The exhibition at Stedelijk Museum CS is part of a series with changing exhibitions of Majerus in 2005-2007:
Graz: Kunsthaus Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum
Michel Majerus. Installationen 92-02
February 12 May 16 2005 www.kunsthausgraz.at
Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum CS
Michel Majerus – what looks good today may not look good tomorrow
June 24 October 16, 2005 www.stedelijk.nl
Hamburg: Deichtorhallen
Michel Majerus, demand the best, dont accept excuses
November 18, 2005 January 29, 2006 www.deichtorhallen.de
Hanover: kestnergesellschaft
November 19, 2005 February 26, 2006
Michel Majerus – what looks good today may not look good tomorrow www.kestner.org
Luxembourg: Musée dArt moderne Grand Duc Jean
Michel Majerus
December 13, 2006 April 16, 2007 www.mudam.lu
Catalogue
A lavishly illustrated catalogue has appeared to accompany the exhibition, with essays by Tilman Baumgärtel, Robert Fleck, Günther Holler-Schuster, Veit Loers, Peter Pakesch, Raimar Stange and Ralf Christofori. (Ger/Eng, 312 pp)
Publisher: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne
ISBN: 3-88375-930-9
