In his paintings, drawings, installations, sculptures and performances, Michael Müller (born 1970 in Ingelheim am Rhein, lives and works in Berlin) draws on linguistic, numerical-mathematical and stellar systems which, despite a certain empirical basis, are usually freely developed by the artist. The examination of forms, methods and norms forms the core of his works, which are also influenced by Müller's travels and stays in India, his grandmother's homeland.
Müller's painting is programmatic. His large-format series revolve around the process of image creation. The Difficult Pictures series, the subject of this publication, consists of expansive diptychs with canvases of different lengths that bring photographic reproductions and painterly gestures into a symbiotic form. Müller begins to develop non-representational painting on one wing of the diptych. It is photographed, digitally processed and finally printed on the second panel. In the process, the artist duplicates parts of the picture and overlays other details. Subsequently, parts of both elements of the picture are painted over and provided with new painterly gestures. The result is a palimpsest in which different times intertwine on the canvas.
