Jonathan
Meese is a champion of the lost cause. His personal interests
reverberate throughout his paintings: comic books, horror
films, medieval crusades, and outsider art merge into a compendium
of morality and epic failure. In his paintings, clear-cut
roles of good vs. evil are confused, ironic propaganda is
served up with homebrew conviction, and malevolent knaves
become heroes of the disenfranchised. In Der Suppenpharao,
Meese invents a protagonist of questionable intent. Based
on Zardoz’s savage executioner, his masked gladiator-cum-superman
stars in a poster-like composition, brimming with promise
of pulp fiction drama. Meese incorporates himself into his
fantasy, as a tribe of snout-nosed nymphs approving the impending
carnage.