Amerika

By: James Martin, Curator
Sprint Nextel Art Collection


Armin Mühsam's starkly beautiful landscapes have garnered acclaim throughout the United States—on the West Coast, in the south, and in the heartland near his adopted hometown of Maryville, Missouri. A number of art critics have praised the mysterious qualities of his work, asking questions such as "Where are these sites?" or perhaps "Why are these landscapes so empty?" Moreover, the artist's skill at creating a sense of timelessness can be seen through characterizations of his paintings as "futuristic;" "records for future use;" and "ambiguous in time and space."

As effective as Mühsam is at creating compelling narratives, the most appealing aspect of his work may be their utter fictiveness. In "Landscape and Tunnel" (2006), one is presented with a painting of an architect's model of a construction project—a facsimile of a facsimile of a built (or about-to-be built) environment. In "Entrance" (2003), we see a tunnel-like structure that seems to have no exit instead of a faithful rendering of an actual tunnel.

So what is "real" in such scenes? Ultimately, the artwork itself becomes the "real" object for apperception. Through such intellectually rewarding ends, Mühsam engages the mainstream art discourses of the past 40 years (in particular, Semiotics). He thus ensures that his work will engender multiple layers of interpretation for many years to come. Timelessness indeed.