Actual work 2018

Below you find actual artworks

New men

New Men

Während so mancher Jahre vollzieht Heike Müller den Transfer vom Bild zum Bild; auf Flohmärkten erstöberte Schwarzweissfotografien fungieren als Inspirationsquelle, auf deren Basis sie leuchtende Farbbilder schafft und Vergangenes erneut greifbar macht. Ein derartiger Flohmarktfund ist es denn auch, der sie eine gänzlich neue Richtung einschlagen lässt; ein altes Fotoalbum fällt ihr in die Hände, Zeugnis einer im selben Masse intimen wie intensiven Männerfreundschaft. Einer jener Männer nun setzt sich nachhaltig in Müllers Gedanken fest, die entsprechende Fotografie zeigt ihn als Wanderer, welcher nach dessen Bezwingen auf eines Berges Spitze rastet, das weisse Hemd locker geöffnet.

Das Bild bleibt, der Wunsch eines unumwundeneren Prozesses drängt sich auf: Müller beginnt, ab Modell zu malen, weisses Hemd, lebendige Männer. Das Verhältnis zwischen Künstlerin und Modell gewinnt bald an Eindringlichkeit, jener durch das Album dokumentierten Beziehung ähnlich. Mit einem Male gilt es, atmende, vom Lichtspiel in Farbe gezeichnete Körper und Gesichter zu fassen; der Rahmen, innerhalb dessen das Malen stattfinden kann, erfährt eine strenge zeitliche Konturierung, welche Müller fordert, wie beflügelt. Trotz dessen steter Kühnheit verfehlt ihr entschlossener Duktus nicht, exakt dies einzufangen, was das Modell gegenüber der flachen Vorlage auszeichnet; den Ausdruck eines Gesichts, teils nur flüchtig vorüberhuschend, einen gewissen Zug, welchen Worte kaum je zu fassen vermögen. Weder aufdringlich noch unentschieden schmiegen sich Pinselspuren aneinander zu stimmiger Einheit. Entstanden ist eine sinnlich rohe Serie, bestimmt von verträumten Blicken, vom schelmischen Zucken eines Mundwinkels und, natürlich, vom sanft fliessenden Textil, das verbirgt wie entblösst und so das Betrachterauge sachte leitet.

Keineswegs meint indes das Erschliessen neuer Verfahrensweisen etwa die Aufgabe früher Ansätze. Parallel zur Arbeit ab Modell betreibt Müller nach wie vor den virtuos beherrschten Übertrag der schwarzweissen Fotografie hin zum farbig bemalten Blatt. Auf solchen knistert die Hitze, gleissend hell wenngleich nie blendend tränkt die Sommersonne Strandgeschehen, doch ist der kühle Luftzug bereits in bläulichem Farbschimmer mitgedacht. Ihrerseits durch Inspiration behaucht, löst Müller die Schnappschüsse aus deren Starre, flösst dort, wo solches eingefangen, Leben ein.

Als Scharnier vermittelt zwischen der Übersetzung ins Bild von entweder Modell oder Fotografie der Kompromiss des fotografierten Modells. Dieser verwischt klar gezogene zeitliche Grenzen, ermöglicht aber unter feinem Nachwirken der Sitzungserinnerungen dem Schritt von der Vorlage zum Werk dennoch dringendste Unmittelbarkeit. Hier werden Nähe und Intimität des Atelierhintergrunds durch maritime Szenerie ersetzt, wobei Müller durch obig genannte Arbeiten auf reichhaltigsten Fundus zurückzugreifen imstande ist. Mittig gliedert der Horizont und scheidet Himmel von Erde, just da, wo der Bund freigibt, was des Wanderers weisses Hemd einst umhüllte.

Thomas Studer

Friday morning stories

Beachboys

Beach

Ladies

Nudes and others

Passionate

It is almost impossible to talk about Heike Müller’s new work without understanding what has long characterized her artistic process – her passion for the overlooked, the unspectacular, her archive of small treasures collected and transformed. Montage – overlapping, masking, many layers fused to a single image – extends into her latest series. The little-noticed, the underrated perspectives, are often Müller’s source of inspiration – photographs, drawings and objects. However, she does not leave it like that; her discoveries are turned into something exciting with new stories to be told, narratives that venture into the unknown. Marks are left with paint on canvas, paper and cloth; latest even with an excursion into an old technique, Cyanotype, also known as “Blueprint”. All works share the artist’s regard for the quality and uniqueness of the original. She clearly honors the prototype; at the same time, curiosity and the urge to leave her own marks motivate her to manipulate and alter surfaces and content time and again.

Heike Müller is an inexorable storyteller. Some of her works of many different techniques appear to come from a time long gone, others clearly strike a contemporary chord; yet, all are unexcited and calm, yet full of suspense, like a silent movie.

Where are here stories coming from, how are they connected, where are they taking us? Such questions run like a red thread through Müller’s entire oeuvre. She is a treasure hunter, a passionate traveler and for looking interesting things. She scours through flea markets and used-book stores for old black-and-white photographs, postcards and photo albums. Old photographs – her discoveries are glorious, stimulating and her greatest sources of inspiration! The photographs and albums are complex – some of them anonymous, others with some text, a dedication, a greeting.

In her latest series, the points of departure are again vintage photographs. Müller surprises her audience with astonishing new perspectives. Her small works on paper for example from the series “Beaches”, are gentle, sensuous, happy, yet melancholic. They are “snapshots” of light-hearted and jaunty scenes on the beach. The warm and soft colors (with the occasional green and blue accents), create an ambiguous atmosphere. Blurry and abstract in some areas, clearly defined and finished in others.

The most unusual and striking of the new series are those of male figures entitled “New Men”, “Beachboys” and “Friday Morning Stories”. They are just about life sized perspectives and portraits of men, walking on the beach, provocatively and even lasciviously lounging in chairs, painted from the back, from the side, about to wander off, flirting with the artist and the viewer. Some look straight at the viewer, tense and demanding, some seem distracted, lost in their thoughts, consumed by the process of being painted; some are relaxed, even sleepy. Some faces are clearly defined, others only roughly finished. There are middle-aged, and older men…mature – with character faces, sharply defined skulls, and young slim and tall men, just past their adolescence. They are all wearing a white dress-shirt, a white T-shirt, or no shirt at all.

Something is unusual here, not mainstream, commonplace. A brief excursion into the history of art and art education is necessary. Throughout the history of Western art,

drawing the human figure from life models was considered the most effective way to develop the skill of draftsmanship, although drawing from a life (mostly nude) model was reserved for male art students. Women were not allowed to look at male or even female nudes. (It also needs to be mentioned here that women did not have access to public art academies unto the 19th century, and therefore could not learn to draw from a life model other than in a private setting.) Therefore, female and male nudes – sculpted or painted – were exclusively executed by male artists. Furthermore, in the 20th and 21st centuries, painting from the life model has become less and less popular, old fashioned, out-dated, conventional. Not only has Heike Müller taken up painting from life models against common practice, but she also confronts the viewer with casually and lasciviously dressed men in white shirts, rolled-up pants on the beach, relaxing in casual settings. That is not common for a female painter and needs to be acknowledged!

To shed light on the source, that is Müller’s inspiration, the viewer has to return to the artist’s extensive archive of black and white photographs and albums. One of her discoveries catches one’s attention! It is an old photo album from the 1930s or 1940s with pictures of two male friends in the mountains. It is a collection of intimate images and group photos, shot in front of magnificent scenery – a clear testimony to male friendship! The many pages of the album show melancholic comments and dedications.

Page by page, the story of two men unfolds as a testimony of an intimate and intense friendship that is about to end as one men is getting married, leaving the circle. It is obvious that is it causing distress to the others. The audience of the album and consequently Heike Müller become voyeurs to a relationship whose visual documentation was not meant for the general public. But one image has a lasting impact – a man standing on a mountain-top with a loosely opened white shirt, clearly a snapshot after a wonderful hike among friends. Or is it really a snapshot? Might he pose for his friends? Arranging his body, the opened shirt and exposing his bare chest for the photograph – an image that he knew would last beyond this day of sad goodbyes. This image engrained itself firmly into Müller’s visual vocabulary and now functions a prototype for her new series of male portraits.

The tension between the casual pose of the photographed, the mountain scenery, the context of the album (dedicated to the friendship of two men) and the resulting sexual implications fascinate the artist. It is a situation quite new to her, something that she as a woman cannot be part of. Yet, in her series “New Men”, “Beachboys” and “Friday Morning Stories”, Müller carries on the narrative and retells the story within the context of 21st century sexual and gender politics. While male beauty, friendship, homosexuality and the pressure to conform to social norms characterized the narrative of the album, “her” men confront the viewer with their sexuality, attractiveness, sensuality and confidence.

The artist uses models for her work, younger and older, friends, colleagues, university students, fellow, artists etc. The series develops like an album; the connectivity

between these men becomes obvious as the relationship between artist and model becomes more and more personal. The series grows, the artist experiments with the poses of her models, their exposed upper bodies, facial expressions. Some are more detailed, some more abstract, some with clear contours, some blend into the background. Her style is direct and determined, her audacity sets her apart from tradition – the mold.

Heike Müller’s men, their expressions, faces and bodies, poses and backgrounds are a tribute to the artist’s determination to experiment with the medium and courage to conquer unknown territory.

Dr. Isabel Balzer