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Michel Majerus (June 9, 1967 – November 6, 2002) was a
Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...
artist who combined painting with
digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ...
in his work. He lived and worked in Berlin until his untimely death in a plane crash in November 2002. 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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.


Early life and education

Majerus was born in
Esch-sur-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (; lb, Esch-Uelzecht ; german: Esch an der Alzette or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is the second city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country's second-most populous commune, with a population of 35,040 inhabitants, . It lies ...
,
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
in 1967. In 1986, Majerus began to study at the
State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart The State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (German: Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart) is a university in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded on 25 June 1761, and located since 1946 on the Weißenhof, the Academy, whose historical si ...
, graduating in 1992.


Work

In 1992, together with his fellow students from Stuttgart Nader (Ahriman), Stephan Jung, Susa Reinhardt and Wawa (Wawrzyniec) Tokarski, Majerus co-founded the artist group 3K-NH for which they used the initials of their nicknames to form a cryptic code name. 3K-NH held exhibitions both in Stuttgart and Berlin. In 1993, Majerus and Jung moved to Berlin. Painting was Majerus’s preferred medium of expression, but his creative horizon extended to many aspects of popular culture, from computer games, digital imagery, film, television, and pop music to trademarks and corporate logos. His paintings' stylistic quotations include excerpts from
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
,
Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
and
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside ...
, video games and other pop-culture sources. In 1996, Majerus began his ''MoM Block'' series, comprising more than 170 canvases; MoM is an abbreviation of Modehaus Mitte, a former fashion factory in East Berlin, in which Majerus had his studio for a while. Majerus did not limit himself to two-dimensional surfaces, but created dynamic, painted installations which surround the viewer. For a 1994 outing at his Berlin gallery Neugerriemschneider then-recently inaugurated space, he asked that a road be paved inside the modest exhibition space. In 1999, at the invitation of curator
Harald Szeemann '' Harald Szeemann (11 June 1933 – 18 February 2005) was a Swiss curator, artist, and art historian. Having curated more than 200 exhibitions, many of which have been characterized as groundbreaking, Szeemann is said to have helped redefine the ro ...
, he painted the façade of the international pavilion in the Giardini of the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
. For his largest work, ''if you are dead, so it is'' (2000), Majerus covered the interior surface of a skateboarders' half-pipe. After moving to Los Angeles in 2000 through the
German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Organisation ''DAAD'' is a ...
(DAAD), Majerus began work on a series of thirty large-format paintings incorporating digital media and animated videos. Completed in Berlin the following year, the series eventually comprised over thirty works. Nine of these works would eventually become the "Pop Reloaded" exhibition in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
. "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 Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American painter, sculptor and photographer. He belonged to the generation of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Twombly is said to have influenced younger artists such as ...
,
Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...
and
Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German ...
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. In 2002, shortly after his return from Los Angeles, Majerus installed a life-size photograph of a Brutalist social housing block directly in front of the East side of
Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II of Prussia, Frederick William II after Prussian invasion ...
; the other side was taken over by a work of
Thomas Bayrle Thomas Bayrle (born 7 November 1937 in Berlin) is a German sculptor, painter, graphic artist and video artist. He is known as a pop artist. Life Thomas Bayrle is the son of the painter and graphic artist Alf Bayrle and the art historian Elis ...
. Majerus was working on an exhibition entitled "Project Space" for
Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development C ...
when he died.


Exhibitions

Majerus' artwork first came to international attention in 1996 with an exhibition at the
Kunsthalle A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...
in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
, and then with subsequent exhibitions in
Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...
and
Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
('Colour Me Blind! - Painting In The Age of Computer Games And Comics', 2000). In 1996 the
Kunsthalle Basel Kunsthalle Basel is a contemporary art gallery in Basel, Switzerland. As Switzerland's oldest and still most active institution for contemporary art, Kunsthalle Basel forms a vital part of Basel's cultural centre and is located next to the city's ...
organized a mid-career museum retrospective. In 1998, Majerus was invited to participate in
Manifesta Manifesta, also known as the European Nomadic Biennial, is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale. History Manifesta was founded in 1994 by Dutch art historian Hedwig Fijen. The first edition took place in Rotterdam. One of t ...
2. He participated in the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
in 1999, where he covered the facade of the main Italian Pavilion with a mural he designed. Since his death, several European museums have organized exhibitions of Majerus’ work including the
Hamburger Bahnhof Hamburger Bahnhof is the former terminus of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstrasse in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as a contemporary art museum, the , part of the Berlin Nati ...
(2003), the
Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development C ...
(2004), the
Kunsthaus Graz The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria. Its exhibition program specializes in contemporar ...
(2005), and the
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is a contemporary and modern art museum in Stuttgart, Germany, built and opened in 2005. Description The cubic museum building with 5000 m2 of display space was designed by Berlin architects Hascher and Jehle. During ...
(2011). A posthumous exhibition of his works was featured at the Kunstmuseum of
Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...
(
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
) in 2003. Entitled “Painting Pictures”, the exhibition was a celebration of Majerus' genre and was dedicated to his memory. Other painters represented in “Painting Pictures” included
Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...
,
Sarah Morris Sarah Morris (born 20 June 1967 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England) is an American and British artist. She lives in New York City in the United States. Personal life and education Morris was born in Sevenoaks, Kent, in south-east England, on 20 Ju ...
,
Franz Ackermann Franz Ackermann (born 1963 in Neumarkt-Sankt Veit, Bavaria) is a German painter and installation artist based in Berlin. He makes cartoonish abstraction. Life He attended the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich from 1984 to 1988 and the Ho ...
,
Matthew Ritchie Matthew Ritchie (born 1964) is a British artist who currently lives and works in New York City. He attended the Camberwell School of Art from 1983 to 1986. He describes himself as "classically trained" but also points to a minimalist influence. ...
,
Torben Giehler Torben Giehler (born 1973) is a German abstract artist. Giehler was born in 1973 in Bad Oeynhausen, West Germany. He is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1999, he attended the New York Studio Program. He is the ...
and Erik Parker. Commencing in 2005, approximately two hundred of Majerus' works have been displayed as the "European Retrospective" travelling exhibition. The exhibition was a collaboration between the Majerus family and the Galerie Neugerriemschneider, Berlin. It included works usually displayed at the
Hamburger Bahnhof Hamburger Bahnhof is the former terminus of the Berlin–Hamburg Railway in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstrasse in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as a contemporary art museum, the , part of the Berlin Nati ...
, 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).. In 2018, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston included a painting by Majerus in a survey of art after the internet, placing it within the context of works by
Jon Rafman Jon Rafman (born 1981) is a Canadian artist, filmmaker, and essayist. His work centers around the emotional, social and existential impact of technology on contemporary life. His artwork has gained international attention and was exhibited in 2015 ...
,
Cao Fei Cao Fei ( zh, 曹斐; born 1978) is a Chinese multimedia artist born in Guangzhou. Her work, which includes video, performance, and digital media, examines the daily life of Chinese citizens born after the Cultural Revolution. Her work explores Chi ...
, Avery Singer, and others. His first museum survey in the United States opened at the ICA Miami in 2022. Opening twenty years after the death, the exhibition series ''Michel Majerus 2022'' – which unfolded across Germany and included
KW Institute for Contemporary Art The KW Institute for Contemporary Art (also known as Kunst-Werke) is a contemporary art institution located in Auguststraße 69 in Berlin- Mitte, Germany. Klaus Biesenbach was the founding director of KW; the current director is Krist Gruijthuij ...
,
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein The Neue Berliner Kunstverein (English: "New Berlin Art Association"), abbreviated nbk, n.b.k. or NBK, is an art association founded in Berlin in 1969 that is dedicated to promoting contemporary art. The association has permanent exhibition rooms ...
, Kunstverein in Hamburg, among others – was dedicated to various phases and aspects of the artist’s oeuvre.


Death

In November 2002, Majerus was killed aboard Luxair Flight 9642 while travelling from Berlin to Luxembourg.


Influence

Thomas Bayrle Thomas Bayrle (born 7 November 1937 in Berlin) is a German sculptor, painter, graphic artist and video artist. He is known as a pop artist. Life Thomas Bayrle is the son of the painter and graphic artist Alf Bayrle and the art historian Elis ...
played with elements from two of Majerus’s paintings to create a silk-screened wallpaper, ''Majerus (Smudge Tool/XXX) I'' (2013). In 2020,
Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...
made paintings that borrow some of Majerus’s imagery.Andrew Russeth (30 November 2022)
Michel Majerus Saw the Future — 20 Years Ago
�''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.


References


External links


Michel Majerus at Mudam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majerus, Michel 1967 births 2002 deaths Luxembourgian artists People from Esch-sur-Alzette 20th-century Luxembourgian painters 20th-century male artists Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Luxembourg Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2002 Male painters