Ute Müller. Kapsch Contemporary Art Prize 2018

Ute Müller, winner of the Kapsch Contemporary Art Prize 2018, makes installations that create a dynamic interplay between painting, objects, and architecture, breaking away from stale concepts of the work of art and forms of perception. Walls and plinths are removed from their usual architectural functions as frames and backdrops, themselves becoming motifs that shape both work and its perception, while images and objects recall real everyday matters in spite of their high degree of abstraction.
This exhibition leads to a game with allusion. The unframed paintings have overlapping colors that seem to dissolve in the dark backgrounds, whereby they refer to the painted and drawn elements of the wall elements that dynamically reach into the exhibition space. In her works, Ute Müller reflects on the history of the artistic genres and style, and on their extensions and forms of presentation. Her work explores the act of exhibiting images and objects in space as well as sensitizing us for the role of the observer.