Markus Müller produces large sculptures using simple materials like plywood, chipboard and roof slats. These he paints with rapid, adept strokes of the brush to make them look like wood or stone. The resulting illusion influences our perception of the weight, density and value of his constructions, generating a tension between the impact of this works and the materials out of which they are actually made.

We are confronted with elements from nature like branches, stones or bones, most of them just slightly larger than life; with structures that show a certain kinship with pieces of furniture or fragments of architecture; and with hybrid objects that bridge nature and culture. The works often refer to art itself and the context of its presentation.

Markus Müller takes a playful approach to artistic principles of design, referring to the styles and epochs of art history. His works also incorporate the ideas that have emerged from his study of sculpture. He elevates his depictions of natural elements to works of art through their form of presentation and has created a nonfigurative sculpture that appears to be natural. In so doing, he raises questions about the criteria that define a found object as sculpture while also inquiring into the status of the objects he represents, specifically their position within the laws that govern art.

Text by Nadia Schneider, Kunsthaus Glarus, 2006
From Nutzen und Nachteil, Edition Fink, ISBN 3-906086-94-1