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severin muller 1964, born in glarus, switzerland university of art and design zurich. training as a professional sculptor in zurich hungarian university of art and design in budapest university of the arts in berlin until 1990 individual exhibitions 1986 emmerich baumann, zurich 1990/94/98/2001 monumental lissabon 1999 serge ziegler zurich 2003 galeria monumental lisboa 2003 ausstellungsraum 25 zurich (kenworty - ball) zürich 2006 ausstellungsraum 25 zurich (kenworty - ball) zürich 2006 galeria monumental lisboa collective exhibitions 1993 museum helmhaus zürich 1994 museum helmhaus zürich 1995/96/98/99/00/01/03 arco madrid / monumental 1998 s. ziegler zurich 1999 s. ziegler zurich 2005 museum helmhaus zürich 2010 museum helmhaus zürich art fairs 1995/96/98/99/00/01/03 ARCO madrid with galerie monumental 1999 Art – cologne köln with galerie serge.ziegler 2004 liste basel with ausstellungsraum 25 zurich 2005 preview berlin / art rotterdamm with ausstellungsraum 25 (kenworty - ball) zürich awards and prizes 1989/93/98/2003 steo foundation zurich 1993 atelier city zurich genova 1994 anniversary foundation ubs 1993/96 foundation georges and jenny bloch 1997/99 canton of zurich grant 2003 kantonales stipendium glarus & schindlerstiftung 2005 cassinelli vogel foundation 2006 dr. adolf streuli-foundation 2007 schindler-foundation glarus / foundation erna und curt burgauer 2010 hans und wilma stutz-stiftung herisau

forces in wood about the work of severin muller <it's an amphora, obviously, the man is in some kind of trouble>. indeed, he is lying on his back, holding the amphora over him, balancing it, bouncing it, heaving it up. this could be wine or oil he is pouring over his head, not disliking it, yet fighting it, not quitting altogether though. play and fight are both chips off the old block. there we are, it's playing and fighting, man and thing. and often woman and man. the sculptures are powerful enough to lift each other up, swing each other on their hips, and hammer each other into the ground, <unsharpened> as the Swiss say. and like that they remain, <eternally>, wedged into one another. still they would, if one lifted one arm or the other, fall to the ground. forever, in silence, within each other, next to each other. what's the world like upside down? can you caress a face with a foot? is this the way things are when one awakes from dream nights, not daring to move, paralysed, these moments after orgasm? every move is too much, for this is when time should stand still: is it the <little death>? <accidents> basically, encompassing <any entity or event contingent upon the existence of something else> (webster's dictionary). <the existence of something else> means <life>, and the <entity or event> is the dream, the orgasm. severin muller's sculptures are their fall completely. they <have> their accidents, their dreams, their orgasms, long after they have happened. angels fallen from heaven emerge, angels <who are through with being angels> (muller). they tear off their wings, fold them together, and are still angels because they remember. they <carry> their past within and grow out of it only slowly, year ring after year ring. some of muller's latest work originates in photographs. a drawing to prepare what is about to enter the third dimension; <sculptural> renderings of photographs. here too, accidents take centre stage: motorbike racing, cycling and car races. the protagonists' world is upside down, all over, warped is their sense of orientation, and their sense of time. past becomes future and the present is a dream. last rites? all this is cut into wood, sawed, carved. the new monument is an accident in racing. muller is neither sentimental nor cynical; even if it's all there. no, something new is born, in a dazzling mixture, more like a reportage of life, not without its absurdities: a motorbike accident carved in wood... leg stretched out as if it was a dancer by degas, then the breaking of bones – the present is happening fast. we find ourselves in the safety fence before even knowing why; we check if we're still in one piece and live on from there, as people, as angels or as angels who are through with being angels. simon maurer