Markus Meurer creates his art out of wire using a diverse range of found objects and packaging leftovers. In the back of the gallery a room installation is on display, consisting of collages and numerous smaller works, mostly obscure insects and animal-vehicle hybrids. The exhibition is complemented by several in part man-sized figures. The art of Markus Meurer is characterized by special relations between nature and technology. There is no worthless item reflected in the artist’s oeuvre, only matter. In the world of objects and materials surrounding him, Meurer doesn’t know any hierarchy of valences. A bubble gum wrap can be as meaningful as the leftovers of an apple or bone remains. The artist explains, that the objects are communicating with him. If he, for example, finds a certain crown cap on the ground, he senses immediately, that he needs it to finish a piece. For Markus Meurer, his work is part of a larger philosophical context. He considers himself a sufferer, who can save the surrounding world piece by piece with every new artwork, which imply forces of strength or protection. In a decade long practice the artist developed an unmistakable style and a characteristic stylistic idiom. The art of Markus Meurer is rich in biographic references charged with secret meanings. He lives with a large number of his works and only reluctantly secedes from them. During the last years they were shown successfully in exhibitions, among them in Münster, Düsseldorf, Rotterdam and at the Halle Saint Pierre in Paris. At the museum Dr. Guislain in Gent a room for his works has been installed in the permanent collection. Since he was a little child the artist, who grew up in a very rural environment, learned from his father (also an Outsider Artist) to use tools and wire. After the father had an accident with his motorcycle and lost a leg, the family had to live in poverty. In this situation Markus Meurer developed his talent to use any possible material for specific purposes. The Meurer’s house became a total artwork, which initially the father and later the son worked on continuously, densely populated by a growing number of miniature motorcycles and figures of wood and stone. The municipality of Monreal showed no comprehension for this naïve-naturalistic art of the Outsiders and finally tore it down.
