by Ariane Mueller”7 rue des Grands-Augustins,“2023, a series of eight acrylics on canvas, celebrates the pleasure of painting while conveying a more complex message. In an oblique commentary on the Spanish Civil War, Mueller recalls the story of Picasso Guernica1937. Rather than reproducing aspects of the actual painting, the artist depicts the facade of the studio in which Picasso created the work, transferring an image of the building from one canvas to another and producing compositions almost identical except for changes in palette that suggest different seasons and times of day, a nod to Monet’s paintings in Rouen Cathedral.
Mueller’s interest is not purely formal; its subject questions how mediation allows multiple perceptions of an event. Following the indirect approach of the paintings, the artist deposits a series of personal accounts in the accompanying text, which draws on his experiences during the Yugoslav wars and his stay at the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi during the invasion of Iraq. Her reluctance to accept the demands of what she calls the “logic and language” of war grew in response to patterns she observed in 20th century conflicts, all ultimately driven by profit-seeking programs.
Through recurring forms and subplots in his texts and paintings, Mueller addresses the power of the unsaid, as well as the inherent complexity of taking a cohesive position as artist and editor in a constellation in constantly evolving geopolitical tensions.
