Thomas Schulte

As an installation visible from afar in the urban environment, Michael Müller has set six monumental abstract paintings entitled “Mental Driftwood” from behind into the window frames of the large shop windows of the Corner Space of Galerie Thomas Schulte. The paintings were created spontaneously and without preconception, the artist applying the paint with his bare hands. The paintings are complete within themselves and do not complement each other to form a "Gesamtwerk," but instead appear as isolated and equal components of a collage. Müller describes the painting process as intuitive. Only during the process does a structure gradually crystallize for the composition to emerge. The artist sees the works as hybrids that have become alien to him and, through them, questions the origin of abstract pictorial notions. Apart from the format determined by the site specificity, only the very first color can be discerned as given. Therefore, have the pictures been washed up from the subconscious like driftwood or to what degree are they after all based on conscious decision-making?

In the gallery's Window Space, the installation "Bikini on Mars," on the other hand, consists of a giant golden disco ball and orange window foil, which completely dominate the space bathing it in orange light and moving reflections, thus, interfering with the color perception of the painting inside.