The New York-based German artist Josephine Meckseper makes artistic use of the ubiquity of the signs, logos, symbols and representations of political parties, religions, lifestyles and even dress codes. In this way, her work allows for widespread recognition: anti-capitalist views and statements are packaged in the beguiling style beloved of consumerist society.

This is demonstrated in Meckseper’s photograph CDU-CSU (2001), which has since become an iconic image: two long-legged blondes with lowcut designer dresses in a showily luxurious nouveau-riche setting. On first glance, it appears to be a glamorous advertisement for Versace. On closer inspection, however, we see that the golden necklaces worn by the models carry the logos of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany — a centre-right party now led by the German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel — and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria, the Bavarian sister party of the CDU; the images thus point to a world view and value system underpinned by Christian- Conservative ideology. The housemaid shown inconspicuously in the background, standing humbly as though awaiting a command, suggests subordination and the realisation of deep class divisions. This is a depiction of late capitalism.

The black-and-white photograph RAF (2002) also shows two sleek models, this time in little black dresses. The matchbox that one offers to the other on a silver tray discreetly but unmistakeably bears the logo of the far-left Red Army Faction, dubbed RAF for short. Between its formation in 1970 and break-up in 1998 the RAF, popularly referred to as the Baader-Meinhof Gang in the German media, made headlines with arson attacks on large stores, as well as other violent acts including kidnappings. The gang’s ambivalent legend remains controversial to this day. Glamour meets rebellion in this image. Protest is given a glossy finish. Once-provocative symbols of leftist counterculture are sapped of meaning and misappropriated by the fashion industry.

Meckseper’s works are full of critical references to the political Establishment, the ineptness of the left-wing protest culture and the vacuous world of fashion, shop window displays and branded products. With a coolly distanced gaze, a propensity for perfect depiction and subtle humour, she makes use of the symbols, codes and logos that connect politics, protesting and consumerism. Her aim is to open the eyes of her viewers, to show us that the superficial make-believe and shallow glamour glorified in the media are nothing more than a trap designed to capture our attention and distract us from much more important matters. “In essence, my work is based on a critique of Capitalism,” she says, adding, “the objects that appear in it are merely the vocabulary, and embody an exaggerated form which reflects the way in which consumerist goods are represented.”

Almost uniquely in contemporary art, Meckseper analyses the erosion of symbols that were once clearly comprehensible as signifiers for distinct political convictions or views. The former information value falls prey to entropy. In his 1978 essay Kool Killer, Jean Baudrillard said, “The time of reproduction is nevertheless the time of codes, the diffusion and total interchangeability of the elements.”¹ This total interchangeability and the diminishing significance of signs, symbols, media and codes in the maelstrom of contextual displacement are the leit motif of Meckseper’s work.

Josephine Meckseper resists being adopted by the mainstream, the collectors, the art market or the media, as a chic leftist, or by leftist counterculture as its artistic spearhead with access to the Museum: “All in all I consider my art rather as a crystallization of absurd antitheses and coincidences with which we must live. I question accepted and traditional ways of thinking and seeing.”

¹ Jean Baudrillard, ‘Kool Killer oder der Aufstand der Zeichen’, Merve Verlag Berlin, 1978