Mneme 2006

Stephen Mueller made "Mneme" with paint, building up layers of color and form in a way that feels both deliberate and intuitive. It’s like watching a painter think aloud. The surface has these dreamy, translucent washes against sharp, geometric shapes. Look at the cloud-like form with its horizontal stripes; it’s so precisely rendered, yet it floats in this ethereal space. Then there’s the rectangle hovering near the top, grounded by its red outline but still somehow adrift. The paint is applied in such different ways, from thin glazes to solid blocks, creating a dynamic tension across the canvas. It reminds me a little of Elizabeth Murray, in the way that abstract shapes are used to suggest feeling. Ultimately, the painting is about the push and pull between control and chance, and how those contrasting forces can create something beautiful and unexpected.