MICHEL MAJERUS

By calculating this work in terms of the crazy cadence of a world which produces and emits signs in real time, Majerus provides us with material for the contemplation of time. With unusual physical energy he inscribes it in an epoch which, according to a big French TV station, sells “available brain time”. It is also an epoch which commercialises this time in the form of economic units and divides it into first and second halftime (Halbzeit) measures. In an email sent to Heike Föll in 2001, Michel Majerus writes that he is “convinced that we have no control over the little time we have to accomplish good things. What is more, we probably never know when it is that time. Perhaps it occurs when no-one is expecting anything and when nothing is expected of us.”

Halbzeit by Luxemburg artist Michel Majerus (1967-2002) is a gestural painting which seems to have been rapidly executed. The violet layer, nervously scratched into wet paint, covers and effaces a previous composition. Two inscriptions and a logo complete this work which seems ready to be “consumed” as quickly as it was produced. The effect is immediate and visceral as in the slogan Thirst – juice, Desire – product is the rhythm which links consumer and advertisement and represents the minimum of time required to bypass thought.

D’Wierk Halbzeit vum lëtzebuerger Kënschtler Michel Majerus an der Emissioun .art op RTL.