Fever 103

Ulrike Müller

Exhibition: Mar 18 – May 16, 2010


For her Fever 103 exhibition at Artpace, Ulrike Müller developed a series of paintings in baked enamel on steel that reference the sign-like qualities of her previous abstract drawings. Müller, who considers herself an uneasy object maker, became interested in the enameling process several years ago because of the proximity of the method to vintage sign production. It also presented her with a solution to technical issues she encountered while drawing on paper, specifically the material’s vulnerability and lack of rigidity. Enamel provided the appropriate balance of delicate textural appearance with firm support that she was seeking.

During her investigation of this medium, Müller discovered that enamel today is used either industrially (for household appliances and bathtubs) or by craftspeople, predominantly jewelry makers. Her paintings, which are not large-scale in terms of contemporary art, are considered outsized when it comes to handcrafted baked enamel.

Several of the works in Fever 103 recall Müller’s 2006 series, Curiosity (Drawings), and Paraphilia from 2007. Vertical layouts are split down the center in handmade, near-symmetrical designs suggestive of body parts. The innuendo of forms and a play with figure and ground enable the simultaneous presence of multiple readings; they constitute deceptively simple images that challenge the rigidity of Modernist binary systems and traditional gender roles. The verticality-or portrait format-of the enamel paintings also serves to reinforce allusions to the body, a theme central to the artist’s oeuvre.

Müller titled her exhibition after Sylvia Plath’s 1962 poem, an 18-stanza verse that deals with the bodily experience of a severe fever. Each stanza serves as the title for one of the artist’s 18 plates. She used a similar strategy to name the works in her Curiosity (Drawings) series, where titles are derived from Futurist writer Mina Loy’s 1923 poem, Lunar Baedeker.

The technique and process of enameling resulted in an entirely new body of work for Müller. Her exploration of queer sexualities and emotions using suggestive forms through this medium generated imagery that is not only in conversation with Modernist abstraction but with early twentieth century advertising and material culture, as well. Her vision reminds viewers that slight shifts in perception might innovate more complex realities.

-Alexander Freeman, Education Curator

The 10.1 International Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Linda Pace Foundation; the City of San Antonio’s Office of Cultural Affairs; National Endowment for the Arts; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; and Nimoy Foundation. Special thanks to Gwynn Griffith.

Artist

Ulrike Müller

New York, New York, USA

Ulrike Müller is an Austria-born, New York-based artist whose practice encompasses both art making and community organizing. Her work, which can be seen as an extension of feminist movements from the 1970s onward, utilizes text, performance, publishing, as well as drawing and painting to create spaces of excitement and humor. The artist’s use of narrative, language, and abstraction functions to break down traditional binary systems, creating new options by addressing contemporary feminist and genderqueer concerns.
Müller studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria, and participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York, New York. She has had solo and two-person exhibitions at O’Connor Art Gallery, Chicago, Illinois (2008); Aktualisierungsraum Hamburg, Germany (2007); and Daniel Reich Gallery Temporary Space at the Hotel Chelsea, New York, New York (2005). Her work has been included in many group exhibitions, including Ecstatic Resistance, X Initiative, New York, New York (2009-10); Sonic Episodes: An Evening of Audio Works, Dia Art Foundation at the Hispanic Society, New York, New York (2009); and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2008).

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Curator

Helen Molesworth

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Helen Molesworth assumed her current position at as Chief Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in 2010. Previously, she served as the Maisie K. and James R. Houghton Curator of Contemporary Art at The Harvard University Art Museums; and from 2002 to 2007 she was the Chief Curator of Exhibitons at the Wexner Center for the Arts. She has curated numerous exhibitions including Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (looking back), Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio (2006); Part Object Part Sculpture, Wexner Center for the Arts (2005); Work Ethic, Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (2003-4); and Bodyspace, Baltimore Museum of Art (2001). She has written for publications such as Artforum, Art Journal, Frieze and October, and served as a co-founding editor of Documents. Molesworth has served as a senior critic at the Yale School of Art, and has held teaching positions at Bard Center for Curatorial Studies; SUNY Old Westbury; and the Cooper Union School of Art.
 

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