The Beautiful, Precise World of Johannes Müller-Franken
By Lawrence Nassau
In his paintings, Johannes Müller-Franken depicts a world of humans, present-day individuals, maneuvering through discrete moments of their daily lives. They are impeccable – both the paintings and the people. The places in which these individuals exist are warm and inviting. Marveling at them and their appearance is, perhaps, the most rewarding thing to do while regarding Müller-Franken’s precisionist paintings.
During a solo exhibition of works by Müller-Franken at Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery, New York, from June 1 to July 21, 2017, a viewer could go from one picture to the next and see how the artist celebrates the act of looking while manifestly presenting a hypothesis of what is possible for life here on Earth. Neither specimens of Platonic idealism nor of phony refinement, the people portrayed by Müller-Franken are not living the dream but living the poem.
One could say that the artist is often contemplating the conundrum of the chicken and the egg. He alternately examines existence and creation. As one typically produces the other, Müller-Franken employs a light touch in making this dynamic felt.
In “Nocturne,” a young lady, wearing an overcoat is seen, standing in a snowy, wooded landscape next to an isolated, modern country house. She is looking up at a 45-degree angle, presumably towards a full moon, as suggested by the distinctive shadows cast by her and the nearby trees in tandem with the bright light falling upon her face and the surrounding virgin snow. In the distance, a campfire is going in the backyard, and, behind her, the electric light of a lamp is illuminating the home’s interior, which is visible through a window. She is harmonious with three sources of light, which originate from three different planes. Like a figure in a Caspar David Friedrich painting, she is gazing at the phenomenon that is the moon; however, unlike a typical Friedrich figure, this young lady is presented to the viewer from the front and not from behind. She appears to be more enchanted by that which may be ever-present in the natural world than that which may be ignited and/or human-made. Müller-Franken further explores variations on these themes in “Les Indes Galantes” and “Aus der Neuen Welt,” each of which depict multiple figures, who appear to be illuminated by distinct, multiple sources.
Through his portrayal of socially engaged subjects, Müller-Franken amplifies his investigation of how to effectively create scenes of individuals in three dimensions by revealing a fourth dimension or multiple facets of one. Sentience and the passage of time are as much a part of the artist’s works as are pieces of furniture, buildings, and clothing. Transitional moments of day and night are depicted in “Aus der Neuen Welt” and “Piazza Mazzini.” In the former, a trio of ladies is minding a campfire in a park and, in the latter, a couple, seated on motorcycles, and a couple, standing next to them in a piazza, appear to be deep in thought; they are, perhaps, contemplating their next move. In, respectively, “Girlfriends IV” and “Kajal,” a pair of young ladies are seated where the end of a train platform and the top of a set of stairs meet. The figures are different from one painting to the next, but the point of view and the train station are the same. In both works, the young lady on the left is applying eyeliner to the one on the right. The scenario in the former takes place in the dead of night, and the figure on the right seems to be regarding the celestial bodies in the nighttime sky above; the broadly illuminated scenario in the latter takes place during the interval that typically marks the transition of day and night, and the figure on the left appears to be making good use of the available light of the “magic hour” in order to apply make-up to the face of the figure on the right.
That Müller-Franken has progressed from having the figures in his paintings go from merely being his subject matter – actors performing tasks – to being thinking and feeling human beings - vital contributors to each other and to the environments which they inhabit – it is more than his having achieved a technical leap forward. In a way, the artist has populated his paintings with surrogates of their own creation. Like his paintings, his subjects are warm and immaculate. They are kitted up from head to toe, wearing garments that are beautiful (within a particular range of taste) in texture and design. These individuals are groomed with great care. In certain ways, they are comparable to the artist’s paintings, themselves, as they are wholly and mortally formed, yet essentially lacking in surface incident. The physical attributes of the figures and their surroundings echo those of the artist’s paintings; they are sensuous and gently dynamic. As every square-inch of Müller-Franken’ paintings and the subject matter depicted within them is impactful and of equal importance, it could be said that he produces all-around works of art, which correspondingly represent all-around lives.
Müller-Franken is working within an ongoing tradition of portraying subjects who are creating themselves or others. In the 1983 painting, “La mano ubbidisce all’intelletto,” by Carlo Maria Mariani, two neo-classical male nudes are creating each other with paintbrushes, as they simultaneously exist as representations of human beings and subjects of a work of art. “Marina schminkt Luciano,” a 1975 painting, by Franz Gertsch, is part of a series of works depicting several friends of the artist, passing the time, grooming themselves, and flamboyantly getting dressed up; in this case, one, who is vividly made up, is making up another and equally so. In what is, perhaps, his most fully-realized all-around work, “Caserne Poya,” Müller-Franken portrays a pair of young ladies, dressed in cheerleading outfits, and the one who is sitting up is applying make-up to the other, who is reclining.
“Marina schminkt Luciano” and many other paintings produced by Gertsch, are photorealist, as the source material clearly comes from camerawork. In both “Marina schminkt Luciano” and the 1973 painting, “At Luciano’s House,” the figures and their surroundings appear to be illuminated by flash. Müller-Franken’s paintings are sometimes considered photorealist, however, the artist’s source materials are not revealed in any particular way. His works are as detailed as photographs or as paintings of photographs may be, however, they do not conspicuously feature lens flares, pixels, or any other characteristics associated with imaging media. Like Richard Hamilton, who had produced modern-day (and even up-to-the-moment) interpretations of the works of the old masters, especially late in his career, Müller-Franken uses contemporary ways of seeing and producing works, as he stands on the shoulders of selected old masters.
Müller-Franken’s annual production of paintings is quite scarce. He appears to be completing about two works per year. To have taken an opportunity to see a dozen or so of his works in a solo exhibition was a real pleasure. Aficionados of the fine arts – especially painting - are well advised to see Müller-Franken’s paintings whenever they are exhibited in public. The experience will be rare and incredibly worthwhile.
New York, September 2017
