Philip Mueller

Dubai

The works of Austrian artist Philip Mueller can be described in one word: monumental. As the title already suggests, his current exhibition at Carbon 12 sets sail toward regions unknown, and will take the viewer on an intimate journey, non plus ultra and beyond. My Father was Many and I am Happy as a Sailor is the second part of a trilogy of Philip Mueller exhibitions that started at Art Cologne. The third part will include the presentation of Mueller’s first monograph. This trilogy of exhibitions is a gigantic triptych of epic proportions that finally does justice to Mueller’s excessive productivity, and gives him another opportunity to once again push the boundaries of what is possible.

Still in his early twenties, Mueller has already created a unique body of work over the past five years. His oeuvre is a whole universe on its own, oozing of idiosyncrasy. His studio is his dungeon, where the act of painting becomes a shamanistic ritual, and where every canvas initiates a rite of passage. The artist is transformed into an alchemist in search of inner truth and outer space, beyond the usual realms of imagination and material matters. My Father was Many and I am Happy as a Sailor is a quest that might seem particular, but Mueller’s intentions are universal: where are we coming from and where are we going? Not only in art, but also in life, in general. For Mueller the answers to these questions are found in the creative act itself: by embracing the inherent narcissism as well as the irony that comes with it. Chaos and structure, excess and asceticism are the coordinates, as the artist becomes a sailor, turning day into night and vice versa: the eternal equinox as a permanent state of mind, his eyes transfixed on a metaphysical horizon, flourishing in the act of creation, yet on the verge of annihilation.

Carbon 12

May 6 – June 8, 2013
Al Quoz 1, Street 8, Alserkal Avenue, Warehouse D37
Dubai
UAE

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