Jochen Mühlenbrink: Doch Doch

PORTFOLIO

Jochen Mühlenbrink’s trompe-l’œil paintings are sensory illusions, invitations to consciously withdraw our trust from our own perception. For they are all fakes: the fogged-up panes of glass, strips of adhesive tape, and references to iconic works from art history. Our willingness to believe what we see is gradually undermined. In the moment of being dis-illusioned, wonder, spontaneous laughter, and the embarrassed feeling of having been caught out exist side by side. Sheer beauty remains unimpressed by all of this and nevertheless never ceases to enchant us.

Mühlenbrink sows doubt. He dissects the masquerade of our visual world while gleefully appropriating its sensual qualities. Knowledge and truthfulness may be the goals of our striving—but they cannot be attained without pleasure, pain, and ambivalence.