Robby Müller: Like Sunlight Coming through the Clouds
LIKE SUNLIGHT COMING THROUGH THE CLOUDS
ROBBY MÜLLER
June 26 – August 22, 2020
Opening June 26, 1 - 7 PM
Annet Gelink Gallery proudly presents Robby Müller’s first solo show at the gallery, curated by Andrea Müller-Schirmer. The show comes after solo exhibitions at the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin, as well as solo presentations in Arles and Rotterdam.
Like Sunlight Coming Through the Clouds displays Müller’s keen eye for capturing beauty and light in the most unlikely of places. Renowned as a pioneering cinematographer for his collaborations with Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier on films such as Paris, Texas (1984), Down by Law (1986) and Breaking the Waves (1996), Müller also built up an extensive archive of Polaroid images. Müller never left home without a camera to hand and after being introduced to Polaroid photography on set in 1973, the Polaroid camera would join him on his travels.
The show features a wide range of Polaroid photos as edition prints - amongst them never before exhibited works - that through their larger format show the incredible details Müller was able to capture in the instant medium. The works depict Müller playing with and investigating the properties of light and colour during the moments in between filming, with a preference for shooting at twilight – the “blue hour” at which natural and artificial light meet. In the triptych Austin Texas, while shooting Honeysuckle Rose for instance, Müller can be seen experimenting with different forms of light within his hotel room as the light outside changes.
Using the square format, Müller would conjure atmospheric and striking images out of his daily life: hotel rooms, American cars, magically lit city scenes, abstract patterns in urban landscapes and domestic still-lives. Works like While shooting Mystery Train, Memphis, Tennesse and Santa Fe, New Mexico II, highlight the painterly quality of Müller’s work through their almost Hopper-like compositions. Seen side by side, the works provide a broader view of Müller as a visual artist, with the Polaroid works both complementing and reaching beyond his cinematographic work. Like Sunlight Coming Through the Clouds spotlights Müller’s ability to form iconic images on film that not only portray his unique view of the world, but also his talent in forming something new and more radiant out of it.
The exhibition will be traveling on to Milan in the fall and will be on view at Case Chiuse from September.
Robby Müller (Curaçao, 1940 - Amsterdam, 2018) studied at the Netherlands Film Academy. Müller's other work has been mainly on independent films, working with Wim Wenders, Lars von Trier, Jim Jarmusch and Steve McQueen amongst others. He received the Gouden Kalf, the Bert Haanstra Oeuverprijs for his lifework and the International Achievement Award for his lifeworks from the American Society of Cinematographers.
