Harald F. Müller
12 Jun - 26 Jul 2008
© Harald F. Müller
Cooling, 2007
Installation: glass, Ilfochrome on alucore, wall paint no. 105, 121 x 121 x 15,5 cm. Ed. 2 + 1 ap
Cooling, 2007
Installation: glass, Ilfochrome on alucore, wall paint no. 105, 121 x 121 x 15,5 cm. Ed. 2 + 1 ap
HARALD F. MÜLLER
To close this season Distrito Cu4tro shows recent work by German artist Harald F. Müller, born in Karlsruhe in 1950. He lives and works between Germany and Switzerland.
Since 2005 Harald F. Müller has been working on his series Cuts, consisting on works that were small at first, which have later increased in size from 2007 on. Like with his large scaled Reproduktionen [reproductions], Cuts should be seen as sculpture and not photography. Initially, the viewer encounters the motifs presented in highest luminosity on cibachrome and underneath glass. Yet a second glance makes one realise that the images cannot be viewed without taking into consideration the way they are presented. Mounted on six inches thick aluminium honeycomb panels –a material used for building airplanes- and exhibited in front of a coloured background, the works of art assert themselves as images as much as sculptures, or installations. Here Müller stays true to his multi-perspective concept of art which he already developed for Reproduktionen: depending on the viewer's (physical) position and the (psychological) point of view either the figurative, the sculptural, or the installation aspects of the work are emphasised. Or these qualities are merged into a union of motif, image carrier, and architectural circumstance.
Harald F. Müller found the Cuts motifs through time-consuming research in archives of companies and institutions. From thousands of pictures, the artist selected a small number of images via a process of radical reduction according to subjective, but clearly comprehensible criteria. He reproduced them unchanged, but extremely enlarged on cibachrome paper. Then he used elaborate fixings to fasten the images to the wall allowing them to reach into the exhibition space. The images seemed to float almost weightlessly in front of the wall. The complexity and heavy material of the fixings - which could be seen when looking behind the pictures - contrasted starkly with the lightness and vulnerability of the high-gloss, unprotected cibachrome mounted onto thin aluminium plates. Approaching the image, the motif became increasingly abstract, dissolving into dots from the reproduction process. This effect added immensely to emphasise that the images were, in fact, objects.
With Cuts, too, Harald F. Müller uses images from the almost infinite store of his archive. Yet rather than through a reductive process of selection, the motifs here are created by an additive-constructive process of layering and fitting together of disparate elements into characteristic collages. The images are now presented behind glass. The paper's layering and overlapping creates depth of field which then turns out to be an illusion. By scanning and subsequent reproduction onto cibachrome paper the collages, or more precisely, the three-dimensional objects, are transferred into the two-dimensionality of the trompe-l'œil. Only when taking a closer look this playful dimensional irritation can be discerned. The use of high-quality material and the precise technique make for an odd contrast, as seeming "glitches" can be discovered in the images: scratches, wrinkles, or fluff, which was accidentally scanned with the image. Müller chose not to remove these "glitches" digitally. He does digitally reworking of the images, for example the colouring, and it would be simple to remove the glitches as well. But to tolerate and, even more so, to precisely visualise these faulty spots, means that the images are essential parts of sculptures, or installations. Seen like this, the seeming contradiction between high-end materials/execution and carelessness can no longer be interpreted as mere irony. Rather, it is an emancipatory moment for the work's evolving identity as sculpture. The artist is not interested in exhibiting a "perfect" image mounted on an unusual carrier. He creates space-specific installations that elude traditional categorisation into panel or sculpture. In between, oscillating objects are evolving that cannot be exactly defined. The titles of the works - like Goldgrund (gold based) or Sushiuschi - add a fifth dimension of thought to the spatial and temporal dimensions. A space for free association -neither tangibly descriptive nor abstractly lyrical- is created, where the work is held in a condition of wavering interpretations.
Müller's photographic-sculptural works are often exhibited together with his letter or word sculptures. The two kinds of works complement each other perfectly, despite their obvious differences. The bulky, three-dimensional letters made from massive linden wood are taken from a font designed by Müller himself. They ad here to the same sculptural principles as the works on cibachrome. Attached to complex steel fixtures, which form an integral part of the works, the massive letters float slightly - gravity notwithstanding - in front of the colour design of the wall. There is no apparent context for the sequences of letters, such as "MONDIA" or "IKO IKO", causing a semantic irritation which serves the same purpose as the "glitches" in the Cuts cibachromes. The letters' incomprehensibility, the de-contextualisation of the words, allows the group of letters to form an autonomous aesthetical unit, a sculpture or installation - despite the viewer's imperative wish for interpretation and the primary human mandate to categorise.
Müller employs contingent images and words to deconstruct the traditional categories of the Fine Arts. It is his way to place figurative, sculptural, and installation elements within a non-hierarchical structure, thus creating non-categorisable works of art that once and for all put an end to the age-old debate about what's worth more: image, sculpture, or architecture.
Thomas Donga-Durch
Cologne, 2008
To close this season Distrito Cu4tro shows recent work by German artist Harald F. Müller, born in Karlsruhe in 1950. He lives and works between Germany and Switzerland.
Since 2005 Harald F. Müller has been working on his series Cuts, consisting on works that were small at first, which have later increased in size from 2007 on. Like with his large scaled Reproduktionen [reproductions], Cuts should be seen as sculpture and not photography. Initially, the viewer encounters the motifs presented in highest luminosity on cibachrome and underneath glass. Yet a second glance makes one realise that the images cannot be viewed without taking into consideration the way they are presented. Mounted on six inches thick aluminium honeycomb panels –a material used for building airplanes- and exhibited in front of a coloured background, the works of art assert themselves as images as much as sculptures, or installations. Here Müller stays true to his multi-perspective concept of art which he already developed for Reproduktionen: depending on the viewer's (physical) position and the (psychological) point of view either the figurative, the sculptural, or the installation aspects of the work are emphasised. Or these qualities are merged into a union of motif, image carrier, and architectural circumstance.
Harald F. Müller found the Cuts motifs through time-consuming research in archives of companies and institutions. From thousands of pictures, the artist selected a small number of images via a process of radical reduction according to subjective, but clearly comprehensible criteria. He reproduced them unchanged, but extremely enlarged on cibachrome paper. Then he used elaborate fixings to fasten the images to the wall allowing them to reach into the exhibition space. The images seemed to float almost weightlessly in front of the wall. The complexity and heavy material of the fixings - which could be seen when looking behind the pictures - contrasted starkly with the lightness and vulnerability of the high-gloss, unprotected cibachrome mounted onto thin aluminium plates. Approaching the image, the motif became increasingly abstract, dissolving into dots from the reproduction process. This effect added immensely to emphasise that the images were, in fact, objects.
With Cuts, too, Harald F. Müller uses images from the almost infinite store of his archive. Yet rather than through a reductive process of selection, the motifs here are created by an additive-constructive process of layering and fitting together of disparate elements into characteristic collages. The images are now presented behind glass. The paper's layering and overlapping creates depth of field which then turns out to be an illusion. By scanning and subsequent reproduction onto cibachrome paper the collages, or more precisely, the three-dimensional objects, are transferred into the two-dimensionality of the trompe-l'œil. Only when taking a closer look this playful dimensional irritation can be discerned. The use of high-quality material and the precise technique make for an odd contrast, as seeming "glitches" can be discovered in the images: scratches, wrinkles, or fluff, which was accidentally scanned with the image. Müller chose not to remove these "glitches" digitally. He does digitally reworking of the images, for example the colouring, and it would be simple to remove the glitches as well. But to tolerate and, even more so, to precisely visualise these faulty spots, means that the images are essential parts of sculptures, or installations. Seen like this, the seeming contradiction between high-end materials/execution and carelessness can no longer be interpreted as mere irony. Rather, it is an emancipatory moment for the work's evolving identity as sculpture. The artist is not interested in exhibiting a "perfect" image mounted on an unusual carrier. He creates space-specific installations that elude traditional categorisation into panel or sculpture. In between, oscillating objects are evolving that cannot be exactly defined. The titles of the works - like Goldgrund (gold based) or Sushiuschi - add a fifth dimension of thought to the spatial and temporal dimensions. A space for free association -neither tangibly descriptive nor abstractly lyrical- is created, where the work is held in a condition of wavering interpretations.
Müller's photographic-sculptural works are often exhibited together with his letter or word sculptures. The two kinds of works complement each other perfectly, despite their obvious differences. The bulky, three-dimensional letters made from massive linden wood are taken from a font designed by Müller himself. They ad here to the same sculptural principles as the works on cibachrome. Attached to complex steel fixtures, which form an integral part of the works, the massive letters float slightly - gravity notwithstanding - in front of the colour design of the wall. There is no apparent context for the sequences of letters, such as "MONDIA" or "IKO IKO", causing a semantic irritation which serves the same purpose as the "glitches" in the Cuts cibachromes. The letters' incomprehensibility, the de-contextualisation of the words, allows the group of letters to form an autonomous aesthetical unit, a sculpture or installation - despite the viewer's imperative wish for interpretation and the primary human mandate to categorise.
Müller employs contingent images and words to deconstruct the traditional categories of the Fine Arts. It is his way to place figurative, sculptural, and installation elements within a non-hierarchical structure, thus creating non-categorisable works of art that once and for all put an end to the age-old debate about what's worth more: image, sculpture, or architecture.
Thomas Donga-Durch
Cologne, 2008