Grob Gallery is proud to present ALL OVER THE PLACE, an exhibition showcasing paintings from 1978 to 2018 by Swiss artist Grégoire Müller.
Reviewing Grégoire Müller’s first one-man show, in 1975, the New York Times art critic John Russel pointed out that his work was “all over the place.” Indeed, from the start, Grégoire made the choice to follow his passion for Painting wherever it would lead him. Mostly known as a provocative painter for his large scale “political” works, he resisted being pigeon-holed and kept exploring a vast range of options within the field of Painting, from history or genre paintings to portraits, landscapes, still-lives, nudes or even animal paintings.
Stylistically, he also escapes definition, refusing to brand himself and keeping all options open, from an expressionist approach to a more realist one. While it is difficult to recognize a Grégoire Müller painting at first glance, common threads can be found throughout his work of the last forty or so years. Aside from his near exclusive use of oil paint on canvas, one can see the omnipresent trace of the artist’s hand in a way that gives a gestural dimension to every work. His sense of color is highly subjective, full of nuances and far from the contemporary reliance on flashy bright pop colors. Never constrained by academic rules or by the temptation of photorealistic rendering, he gives himself ample room for improvisation and does not shy away from distortions. As he often stated, his aim is not to copy “reality”, but rather to clarify through the act of painting the images that simmer in his mind, whether they grew out of direct observation, the media, art history or straight out of his imagination.
For all these reasons, and even though his work is represented in major museums and private collections, he has always remained a somewhat marginal figure in the artworld, known only by passionate lovers of Painting.
Though modest in scale, this exhibition gives viewers an opportunity to see, in small and medium works carefully chosen for this occasion, the scope and range of Grégoire Müller’s life-long fascination with the practice of the art of painting.
OPENING
Thursday 28 February 2019
18:00 – 20:00
EXHIBITION
1 March – 27 April 2019
Monday to Thursday and Saturday, 12:00 – 16:00
Friday, 12:00 – 18:00
and by appointment