Jonathan Meese

In his early drawings from the 1990s--with their energetically-rendered juxtapositions of text and image--German artist Jonathan Meese gave voice to a particularly contemporary strain of abjection: "Soon I'll have a lot to say, sorry," reads one. "I feel like I'm shuddering all over," declares another. And a third is helpfully labeled, "This is someone burning from the inside out." Continuing in this vein, Meese's captions illustrate hundreds of works--created on his mother's living room floor while he was in his twenties, with the cheapest available materials. They feature Expressionistic figures with distorted features--and, though drawn with great urgency, feel very delicately composed. As seen together in this volume, the importance of these drawings emerges. They are the angst-filled foundation of Meese's mature work--a tortured m lange of installation, sculpture and performance that is infamously contentious and internationally renowned.