Painter and designer Christoph Mueller plays with the drama of contemporary painting, taking familiar motifs and themes from art history and giving them a new dynamic and intensity. The combination of traditional painting and digital technology creates a fascinating tension in his work.
The painter questions the traditional system of representation and creates his own image of things. He reflects reality and allows the viewer to see what is with new eyes.
Tradition and innovation, past and present, content and form are united in Christoph Mueller's work. His paintings are analogies to what is; they show that the intensity of expression lies not only in the works themselves, but also in the way they are created.
Christoph Mueller studied design and communication at the Zurich University of the Arts. He lives and works in Switzerland and France.
Christoph Mueller (*1958, CH) lives and works in Zurich and France.
Studied at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK.ch).
Diploma in Design and Communication.
Various art scholarships, including Kiefer Hablitzel Art Prize (kieferhablitzel.ch).
Education
2002 - 2005 ZHAW Arts Management / MAS Arts Management (FH), Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
1976 - 1980 ZHdK Visual Design / Diploma, Zurich University of the Arts.
1975-1976 Preliminary Course in Design, Zurich School of Applied Arts.
Prizes and Awards
1986 Scholarship for visual arts, city of Zurich
1982 Study and work contribution to visual artists, Zurich
1980 Kiefer Hablitzel Art Prize, kieferhablitzel.ch
1979 Scholarship for visual arts, Zurich
1978 Scholarship for visual arts, city of Zurich
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2019 Sägerei Sedrun GR
2017 teo jakob Löwenbräu, Zurich
2016 Les Clos de Paulilles, Port Vendres, FR
2015 Mas Campy, Cosprons FR
1983 Gallery Wachturm, Zurich
1983 Gallery Art Studio, Vaduz FL
1980 Gallery Handschin, Basel
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2018 Art: Scene Zurich, Kulturfolger, Zurich
1985 Villa at the Aabach, Uster
1985 Swatch International Street Painting, Basel
1979 "Pictures painted into the wind", Zurich
1979 Exhibition Thearena , Basel Land
Works in public collections
1982 Collector's folder with 20 selected prints, Basel Land
1982 Purchase of the city of Zurich
1979 Purchase of the Canton Basel-Land
https://www.sikart.ch/kuenstlerinnen.aspx?id=4003231
Film
1981 Today and After, documentary film 71 min.
www.editionpatrickfrey.com/de/books/heute-und-danach-lurker-grand-andre-tschan
Music
F.d.P 1980 - 1982
1983 -1985 Dressed up Animals
www.discogs.com/Dressed-up-Animals-Dressed-up-Animals-1982/release/1363551
www.definitiv-zuerich.ch/bands/-/id/94/b/dressed_up_animals
Statement
About Christoph Mueller
Zurich artist Christoph Mueller (1958) works in the fields of painting, graphics, film and music. He lives and works in Switzerland and France. Mueller's artistic career began with an education at the Zurich University of the Arts, which he completed in 1980 with a diploma in visual design and communication.
Throughout his career, Mueller has been honoured for his artistic talent with various prizes and scholarships, including the Kiefer-Hablitzel Art Prize in 1980 and the City of Zurich Art Scholarship in 1986. In the last ten years Christoph Mueller has increasingly returned to painting. He has created several series of works that have been presented in solo exhibitions.
Anyone familiar with Christoph Mueller’s work will know that his exhibitions usually connect to the sites where they take place in one way or another. His exhibition "Inspiraziuns alpinas" in Sedrun featured paintings with mountain scenes, in Cosprons paintings with motifs from the South of France, and now here in Zurich a specific Zurich motif takes centre stage.
The artist is always drawn to nature, he rarely paints people or man-made objects, so it is not surprising that during his visit to the Kunsthaus Zürich he was inspired not by the works of other painters or by architecture, but by the bouquet of flowers that is always at the centre of the Merzbacher collection. This bouquet looks almost like a sculpture, placed on a pedestal and always extremely pompous. From 31 May to 1 June, the exhibition "It could be about flowers" at the Cigarettenfabrik on Zurich's Sihlquai will show a large number of paintings and prints inspired by the bouquet at the Kunsthaus over the past two years. The artist calls the series "At Heimplatz", a subtle reference to the location of the flowers that inspired him.
Mueller's artistic exploration also includes the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into his creative process. On the one hand, he creates motifs for prints, while on the other, AI's suggestions inspire him to develop his paintings and prints in a different direction. The artist photographs his works and transforms them through AI, creating unique pieces that become series of prints or the basis for paintings. Elements from the past, information from the present and imagination combine to create innovative and visually new works of art.