galerie laurent mueller

Plier la ligne

From February 23, 2012 to April 14, 2012
Opening on Wednesday November 30, -1

The galerie laurent mueller presents the first solo exhibition in France by the German artist Roland Stratmann with a series of infinite drawings. Stratmann’s drawings are like uninterrupted threads. With one line, the artist creates complex universes which, while paying homage to classical painting, describe the current world by taking up some of its signs among others.

Such as labyrinths, the works can not be grasped in one single shot but, at the contrary, offer the viewer a playful quest. He can venture towards following the thread from one end to the other at the risk of loosing it. But this lost way leads to a different view of and on the work, permitting the discovery of previously unseen details. Such as a lost pedestrian, who suddenly discovers novelty and surprise in a city he thought familiar, here the viewer is taken in the game.

Add to this the voluntarily long and enigmatic titles which, despite their length, are also descriptive, simple and poetic. Each drawing is enlightened by them, its contrasts are softened.

The fineness of the line and of the paper correspond as well, leading to a reflexion upon the fragility of this work about threads and lines; but the criss-cross of Stratmann’s unique stroke lends the lines it solidity, presence, lightness and gravitas.

JDM