Still (Lifes and Dreams)

Long Story Short is proud to present Still (Lifes and Dreams), a solo exhibition by German artist Jochen Mühlenbrink. This exhibition offers a compelling survey of Mühlenbrink’s diverse visual vocabulary, developed over the past two decades. Bringing together a vibrant mix of series and techniques—including his iconic Window Paintings (WP), Tape Paintings (TP), and hybrid compositions—the show reflects both the evolution of his signature approach and a bold push into new, playful, and at times raw terrain. With equal parts technical precision and conceptual experimentation, Still (Lifes and Dreams) creates a space where clarity slips into ambiguity, and everyday forms open up into something more poetic, more imagined, and altogether more alive. Mühlenbrink’s title hints at his central preoccupation: how painting can both pause time and expand it. Still lifes here are less about what’s seen than how it’s felt, remembered, or dreamed. The word still gestures toward the classical tradition of vanitas and memento mori—quiet reminders of impermanence. Yet the title also reaches toward the imaginative: Mühlenbrink is not a realist, but a dreamer, one who conjures meaning from the ephemeral. “These aren’t just still lifes,” he notes. “They’re dreams in disguise.” The works on view span a range of material and conceptual experiments. His Window Paintings, such as WP Pirates and WP Smile, create a near-hypnotic illusion of looking through fogged glass, merging depth and distance into a single painted surface. The TP Raw series takes a more structural turn, exposing the architecture of the painting itself through layered, peeled tape and raw canvas. And in recent mirror-based works like MP Dolphin and MTP Pirate, Mühlenbrink adds another layer—literally—by varnishing and painting onto reflective surfaces, inviting viewers to become part of the illusion. Across these pieces, his use of oil, acrylic, raw canvas, and mirror glass becomes a tool not just for visual trickery, but for shifting perception. Jochen Mühlenbrink (b. 1980, Germany) studied painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and has exhibited widely across Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent solo exhibitions include BCP at ASPN Leipzig, MP at Long Story Short in New York, and AIR at Cuturi Gallery in Singapore. His work has also been featured in museum exhibitions such as Reality Check at Kunstmuseum Ahlen, J’M donc je suis at Kunstmuseum Bensheim (solo, 2023), and echt jetzt (for real) at Kunstmuseum Heidenheim (group, 2023). Mühlenbrink is known for his masterful use of Trompe-l’œil and for artworks that blur the line between modernist painting, classical aesthetics, and conceptual play.

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