Josephine Meckseper Presents 'Object Synthesis' at Simon Lee Gallery
On view in Hong Kong until January 7, 2023.
Josephine Meckseper approaches art like an archaeologist. She mines signs and symbols that are widely present across society and re-presents them to the world under a critical framework.
Simon Lee Gallery in Hong Kong is showcasing a new solo exhibition by Meckseper spanning work she’s made over the last two years. Thematically, the latest artworks explore the concept of recycling, tracing, and capturing matter and memory as experienced by the artist during the uncertainty ushered in by the pandemic, the threats of war and the climate crisis.
The Empire of Signs is a new wood and glass vitrine encasing objects that are only loosely connected by their current or previous functions. Inspired by Roland Barthes book of the same name, Meckseper alludes to the French essayist’s concept of a “novelistic object” — that allows one to isolate a certain number of features in disparate corners of the world to create an entirely new system of signs.
Meckseper forms a dialogue between The Empire of Signs and the surrounding paintings on view, which radiate with a pulsating choice of colors and depict objects, art historical references and scenes that are vaguely discernible. In The Four Similitudes, notes of Roy Lichtenstein’s half-tone Ben-Day dots can be seen, while in The Anthropological Sleep, the German artist draws on Robert Rauschenberg’s early blueprints and cyanotypes, which were made in collaboration with Susan Weil.
Josephine Meckseper: Object Synthesis is on view at Simon Lee Gallery in Hong Kong until January 7, 2023.
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Simon Lee Gallery
304, 3/F, Pedder Building
12 Pedder St, Central, Hong Kong
