Galerie Stephanie Jaax

Jürgen Meyer

La promenade du chien

Jürgen Meyer’s painting « French Bulldog » was exhibited in his solo show at Galerie Rolf Ricke in the 80 ies in Cologne. Ricke also showed this work at the Cologne Art Fair at the time and a few years later he exhibited « Hund mit Vase » ( dog with Vase), a similar painting of Meyer consisting of multiple shades of thick, impasto green oil paint. The latter drew attention to the collectors and visitors of the fair. The subject was an enormous green bulldog excuding a human gaze, its uniqueness seduced Xavier Hufkens to exhibit Meyer’s work in his Gallery in St. Giles.

My husband Stephan Jaax, who had worked at Gallery Heiner Friedrich in Cologne from 1975 to 1980, bought the « French Bulldog » from Ricke in the early eighties. Kasper König, the brother of Walter König, who later became the director of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, was chief curator of the exhibition « Von Hier Aus » in hall 13 at the Art Fair in Düsseldorf in 1984. After he knew that Stephan had bought the painting, Kasper König expressed his sincere appreciation for the purchase and advised him never to sell this painting.

Currently, both dogs are exhibited in addition with some of Meyers new work in my gallery. In October 2023, I had applied at Art Brussels 2024, Section Re- Discovery with the two dogs and some of Meyers abstract impasto paintings, but the selection comitee refused the application. Reasons for this remain unknown. If hypothetically the refusal has been based on a supposed insufficient quality of the work, this gives evidence for powerful curators and gallerists who seemingy create a promising career for a young artist bug then drop them after a few years if they are unable to sustain the « Taste of the month ».