The provocation of truth: the essence of nudity. MongiHiggs’ art is a radical examination of the human condition. His figures are naked, not out of voyeurism, but as an existential necessity. The shell of convention must fall away to reveal true being. In a world of staged identities and perception determined by algorithms, nudity in Higgs’ work is not an erotic motif, but an act of liberation. The exposed bodies point to what remains when masks and social staging break away: the unadorned, raw truth of being. Figuration and dissolution: painting as a field of experimentation.
mongi higgs
naked is not
always beautiful,
but always true.
Higgs pushes figuration to the limits of its recognizability. Sometimes sharply outlined, sometimes dissolving, his figures move between concretion and abstraction. This is not just a painterly playfulness, but a conscious commentary on human existence: identity is never static, it oscillates, changes, dissolves and reshapes itself. The brushstroke thus becomes a metaphor of instability, of becoming and passing away. There are parallels here with Francis Bacon, whose deformed bodies radiate a similar existential urgency.
Artist
mongi higgs
- Internationally successful
- Traded internationally
Exhibition
Juli 2025 Munich, Solo, konsum163 contemporary
Publications
“twelve – shortly before
and shortly after.”, 2021.
163 ONE SIX THREE | art in print Verlag
“alle nackt ausser helga.”, 2022.
163 ONE SIX THREE | art in print Verlag
“Naked is not always beautiful, but always true”, 2025
163 ONE SIX THREE | art in print Verlag
Mongi Higgs in his studio in the Spreewald; 2021. Reworking the image “Typhon Superstar”.
Photo by Liv Lehmann ; © konsum163
twelve - more than just a symbol.
Twelve: The mystery of numbers in creation. The number 12 is the mythic zero point in Higgs’ work. It is the moment when consciousness awakens, the transition from formless quantum foam to tangible reality. The fact that the artist signs his works with 12 beer marks is more than just a gimmick: it is a coded manifestation of his artistic philosophy. The division into two groups of five and one group of two reflects his name, while the last two strokes mark the year of creation. This conceals a principle of temporality that defines Higgs’ painting: the incessant search for that fleeting moment in which truth becomes visible.
Mongi Higgs in the studio; 2022. photo by Conny Gabora; © konsum163
"I paint according to the intention of my picture. Sometimes full of power, sometimes very devout. That's why painting always involves intensive preparation. The mood of the subject must be in you. Otherwise it won't be a painting.
mongi higgs
The Artistic Method: Control and Chance. Higgs relies on a long preparation phase. His works are not created from spontaneous inspiration, but through meticulous planning with digital tools. Sketches on the iPad, editing in Photoshop – the actual painting process only begins once the composition has been thought through digitally. But this is where the paradox happens: precise planning meets the unpredictability of painting. Chance becomes an accomplice, mistakes become inspiration. The true power of his paintings lies in this oscillation between control and chaos.
The seventh picture of the eponymous solo exhibition “FIER FREUNDE FLEISCHESSER” in the konsum163 gallery – contemporary.
Photo by Ellen lehmann; © konsum163
Mongi Higgs explains the “twelve” concept; 2022. photo by Heike de Fries; © konsum163
Mongi Higgs during the interview in his studio in Munich; 2022. photo by Liv Lema; © konsum163
art as a search for truth
Meryth with boots; Hans had already left, 160 x 180 cm, 2020. © konsum163
"Reality is not what things really look like, but what they really are."
bertold brecht
Meryth with boots; Hans had already left (detail), © konsum163
what is reality?
© konsum163
alive
ja, that's live.
exhibitions and bio
2025
paper positions vienna /presentedby konsum163
Vienna, Austria
CAR /
Zeche Zollverein, Essen, Germany
WILDEMISCHUNG 5 / group exhibition
Pasinger Fabrik; Munich
OBERSCHWEINBACH IN AUGUST AND OTHER MYTHS / Solo
konsum163 – contemporary art gallery; Munich
art Karlsruhe 2025, Group-exhibition with konsum163 – contemporary,
Karlsruhe, Germany
2024
ONE / group exhibition
konsum163 – contemporary art gallery; Munich
FIER FREUNDE FLEISCHESSER / solo exhibition
konsum163 – contemporary art gallery; Munich
NEUNZWO4 / group exhibition
konsum163 – contemporary art gallery; Munich
2023
WILDEMISCHUNG EINS / group exhibition
konsum163 – contemporary art gallery; Munich
BEYOND PARADIS / solo exhibition
konsum163 – contemporary art gallery; Munich Orangerie
L’ÁRTE TEDESCA E BIONDA / group exhibition
Galerie Tibaldi & konsum163 – contemporary art gallery ; Rome
2022
THIRTEEN – DREIZEHN / group exhibition
Galerie konsum163 – contemporary art gallery ; Munich
ACCIDENT OR MUSE / Mongi Higgs & Giulia Mouse
Orangerie Munich
2021
U-MANBE LONGINGS / solo exhibition
Galerie Lithfaß; Munich
BEIM ERSTEN MAL IST ES AM BESTEN / group exhibition
Galerie konsum163 – contemporary art gallery
ZWÖLF – KURZ DAVOR UND KURZ DANACH / solo exhibition
Galerie konsum163 – contemporary art gallery
2020
SOUS VIDE – IMAGINE VOL 2 / Group exhibition
Kunstraum Dreieich
2016
THE SWIMDRUNKONAUTS / solo exhibition,
Son Bernadinet, Campos, Mallorca
2015
THE MELKMAYERS AT HOME / solo exhibition
Villa Planck, Cala Murada, Mallorca
2009
BLU-NA WELCOME TO NIVEA LAND | solo exhibition
Gallery Litfaß, Munich
Collections
Traenckner Collection, Munich
Clemente Collection, Munich
Gruss-Meyer Collection/Mallorca
Fernadez-Bonet Collection/Mallorca
Graf Collection, Munich
The painter Mongi Higgs was born in Reutlingen/Germany in 1963 and grew up in Upper Bavaria. Due to his outstanding talent, he was accepted at the Academy for the Graphic Arts in Munich – even without the prerequisite for studying. The artist Mongi Higgs completes his studies with Professor Abold with great success. After a one-year stay abroad in Caracas, Venezuela, he worked successfully as a creative director in renowned German advertising agencies before founding his own communications consultancy. The reflections and references to reality in his works certainly have their origins here.
From 2009 onwards, he devoted himself increasingly to art again, followed by various solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad. Painting is generally the most difficult form of art, says Mongi Higgs, quoting Prof. Markus Lüpertz, with whom he is now studying. In painting, there are so many ways to express yourself, tell stories and question the subject matter. People are always at the center of the artist’s figurative work. Mongi Higgs lives and works in Munich and in his studio in the Spreewald near Berlin.
