COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.-In a manner of speaking, the autumn exhibition in x-rummet at Statens Museum for Kunst addresses our universal point of origin and first close relationship. In MOTHER, the German artist Jonathan Meese (b. 1970) joins his Danish colleague Tal R (b. 1967) in treating the concepts of 'mother' through varying media, materials, and narratives. A productive chaos of sculpture, photography, paintings, etc.; all framed by a separate space within the exhibition space: A giant, startling, pink fortress.

An odd couple - The particular combination of artists invited into x-rummet here is a never-before-seen constellation. Indeed, the differences between two artists are the first thing you notice. Whereas Meese's art seems to draw nourishment from a spectacular wildness, Tal R's art appears cool and laid-back. Nevertheless, closer inspection reveals eye-catching instances of their methods intersecting and overlapping. Both artists spring from the expressive tradition, and both employ versatility and unpredictability as constant, unsettling factors in their explorative art. Nothing is ever 'typical' of them, as is eloquently demonstrated by their effortless, virtuoso ventures into a wide range of artistic media. Between the two of them, they have covered almost every media: Painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, collages, installation art, video, and, particularly as far as Meese is concerned, performance art.

The visual trashcan - Both Meese and Tal R are avid consumers of all kinds of visual information, tearing fragments out of their original contexts to place them within alternatives of their own devising. A collage technique which is both practical and psychological in scope, and which need not aim at clarity and unambiguous resolve. Quite the contrary; their art takes the form of endless opportunities - open-ended statements which can at any time interact with a wealth of social and historical references. Even so, each of the two artists seems to be homing in on different narratives, different stories. As the curator Vibeke Vibolt Knudsen says in the exhibition catalogue: "Where Tal R seeks out the fantastic story full of strange figures, animals, little men, bags, phantoms, guillotines, the melancholy, the exotic, and the banal, Meese goes overboard in grand narratives, particularly German history, with a barrage of references pouring over audiences."

The exhibition - In x-rummet visitors are met by the artists' fortress which takes up the entire space from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. This monstrous structure, both protective and suffocating, heralds the complex and often baroque concepts of the MOTHER that emerge within and amongst the many works. Here, abstract and figurative pieces commingle to comment on the fundamental conditions and changes which have a bearing on our relations with the mother figure throughout the many stages of life.

With strong connections to Berlin art circles in particular, both Jonathan Meese and Tal R have garnered great international acclaim. Among other things, Meese was represented at the Berlin Biennial in 1998. He most recently caused a stir with his performance in connection with the production of Wagnerss opera Parsifal in Berlin. In 2002 Tal R received the prestigious Carnegie Art Award, and in 2004 he received the Eckersberg Medal. That same year he contributed to the decoration of the Copenhagen Opera. Tal R is also honorary professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf.

The exhibition is officially opened on 8 October 2005 in the presence of
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.