SANTA MONICA, CA.- ROSEGALLERY presents Manfred Müller Federal Avenue, an exhibition of drawings and works on paper, on view 19 April through 31 May, 2014.
Throughout his career Manfred Müller has made large-‐scale, site-‐specific sculptures and installations from diverse materials such as steel, wood, cement, paper, and recycled industrial machine parts. Trained as an engineering draftsman, Müller uses architecture, the industrial landscape and simple geometry to explore the relationship between objects, space and meaning. These works unite disparate elements into eloquent combinations of form and color. While his artistic practice is rooted in sculpture, Müller has consistently produced sketches and drawings that support and inform his larger works. Sometimes they are studies towards larger projects, but more often the sketches are a response to what is happening in the studio and are conceived of and executed as independent works in their own right. Employing familiar techniques on a smaller scale, Müller interrupts the paper's flat surface with incised lines and raised edges to give the drawings a sculptural three-‐dimensionality. These subtly nuanced changes in texture allow light to play on the surface, acting as the point of contact between drawn line and edge tension. Müller transforms the humblest of materials into objects of profound poetic beauty. These works on paper continue to serve Müller as a rich depository of ideas for his ongoing visual diary.
Manfred Müller was born 1950 in Düsseldorf, Germany. From 1967 to 1970 he apprenticed as a technical draftsman, receiving his state license as an engineering draftsman. From 1971 to 1975 he studied visual communication at the Fachlochschule Düsseldorf and from 1976 to 1981 he attended the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, Germany -‐ studying under Erwin Heerich (1922-‐2004). After leaving the Kunstakademie in 1981 he was awarded a Cité des Artes Scholarship, Paris, France and received grants from the city of Düsseldorf in 1983, and the German Industry Endowment of the Arts in 1985. In 1989 Müller relocated to Los Angeles. Recent selected solo and group exhibitions include: Objects are Closer Than They Appear, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, CA, 2014; Framing Abstraction: Mark, Symbol, Signifier, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, CA, 2011; Heidi Cho Gallery, New York, NY, 2010; Heliotropo, Galerie Lopez Quiroga, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010. Public Artworks include: 2002, When a Person Plants a Tree..., public installation, Civic Center and Library, Agora Hills, CA; 2000, Ringrotsiebzehngrad (ringredsevendegrees), Universtät Münster, commissioned by the city of Münster, Germany; 1998, Twilight and Yearning, installation beneath the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA. Manfred Müller maintains studios in Düsseldorf, Germany and Santa Monica, California.
