Works by Pierre Muckensturm
Pierre Muckensturm is a French abstract painter and print maker. His visual language is one of harmony, calm and timelessness built around softly textured surfaces and a muted, black and white palette. Born in Strasbourg, France, he currently lives and works in Colmar.
Education
Muckensturm attended Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg. Later, while studying to become a teacher, he befriended Jean Jérôme, a university art instructor, who mentored him and inspired him to enroll in painting workshops. In 2010, he was an artist in residence at Boribana Museum of Contemporary Art in Dakar, Senegal.
Technique
In 2004, Muckensturm began working with oil on large scale canvases. He isolates gestural elements, enlarging them on the picture plane to explore their presence in relation to the surrounding emptiness. He develops the paintings methodically, exploring the process of transformation the canvas undergoes in the painting process. Working the surface into a texture that belies its age, Muckensturm achieves a balance of intensity and tranquility. Since 2010, he has also added printmaking to his oeuvre. The engraving and printing process allows him to further explore notions of time and perspective. In his prints, he begins with gestural marks, examining them in detail, transforming them gradually, exploring how they communicate differently as he alters their size, shape, depth, magnitude and orientation over time.
Inspiration
Muckensturm is inspired by the concepts of calmness, constancy and temporality. His work visually expresses a sense of harmony with time. Initially a figurative painter, he discovered abstraction in 2004 on a visit to Notre Dame du Haut, a Modernist chapel in Ronchamp, France, designed by Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, otherwise known as Le Corbusier. The simplicity of its forms brought Muckensturm a feeling of tranquility. He began seeking ways to directly express how felt that day. His search brought him into contact with the work of Julius Bissier, whose simple, organic, gestural brushstrokes, evocative of Taoist painting techniques, also communicate a sense of calmness. In 2010, during an artist residency in Africa, Muckensturm became inspired by the differences in how time is observed in Senegalese culture, versus the culture in which he was raised. He has since been exploring these various ideas in his work, expressing calmness and an open ended view of time.
Selected Exhibitions
2017
International Print Center « New Prints 2017 / Summer » . New-York . USA
Salon Donosti Artean. Galerie Leizorovici . San Sebastien . SP
Exposition collective « fête de l’estampe » . Galerie La Paix . Sélestat . France
Biennale de la gravure. La Boverie, musée des beaux-arts de Liège . Belgium
« Artothèque, la nouvelle collection ! » la Roche-sur-Yon . France
2016
"La courbe du carré" Galerie Lacan, Strasbourg, France ( solo)
Foire européenne d’art contemporain St’ART . Galerie L’Estampe . Strasbourg . France
Art Elysées, Galerie Lacan . Paris . France
«incomplétude + incertitude» Ancienne Abbaye de Marbach . France
Salon international de l’estampe et du dessin. Grand Palais - Paris . Galerie Lacan . France
Salon de l'édition d'art-Fondation Fernet-Branca. Editions Bucciali . Saint Louis . France
Exposition collective «Papiers» . Galerie Alexandre Lazarew . Paris. France
Art Karlsruhe, Galerie L’estampe . Karlsruhe . Germany
Affordable Art Fair, Brussels. Editions Bucciali . Belgium
2015
Salon St-art . Éditions Bucciali . Strasbourg . France
Salon AAF Hambourg. Editions Bucciali . B Art Elysées . Éditions Bucciali . Germany
Exposition personnelle «croisements» Galerie Lazarew . Bruxelles . Belgium
Exposition collective «Lignes» Musée des Beaux Arts . Meaux . France
Exposition collective «Regards» sur l’art contemporain en Alsace . Strasbourg . France
Salon de l’édition Fondation Fernet-Branca . Editions Bucciali . Saint Louis . France
Salon Affordable Art Fair Maastricht . Editions Bucciali . Netherlands
Salon Affordable Art Fair Bruxelles . Editions Bucciali . Belgium
Trowbridge gallery . New-York . USA
Trowbridge gallery . London . GB
Galerie l'Estampe . Strasbourg . France
2014
Salon St-art . Éditions Bucciali . Strasbourg . France
Présentation chez Ixc-edition . Tokyo . Japan
Opening Night. . Colmar, France
Art Elysées . Éditions Bucciali . Paris . France
Trowbridge gallery . New-York . USA
Trowbridge gallery . London . GB
Fine Art Kurhaus Baden Baden . Editions Bucciali . Germany
Salon Affordable Art Fair Bruxelles . Editions Bucciali . Belgium
Galerie l'Estampe . Strasbourg . France
2013
Salon NY NOW . New York . Trowbridge Gallery
Salon St-art . Éditions Bucciali . Strasbourg . France
Trowbridge gallery . New-York . USA
Trowbridge gallery . London . GB
The London Original Print Fair. Éditions Bucciali . Londres . GB
ART KARLSRUHE . Éditions Bucciali . Karlsruhe . Germany
AAF BRUXELLES. Éditions Bucciali . Bruxelles . Belgium
Galerie l'Estampe . Strasbourg . France
2012
"Indicibles Espaces" . galerie Art’course . Strasbourg . France ( solo)
Trans Rhein Art, réseau art contemporain Alsace . Opening Night. . Colmar, France
ART 3F. Éditions Bucciali . Mulhouse . France
Salon St-art . Éditions Bucciali . Strasbourg . France
Art Elysées . Éditions Bucciali . Paris . France
Salon Affordable Art Fair Hamburg . Éditions Bucciali . Germany
Exposition personnelle "advienne quand pourra" galerie Rémy Bucciali . Colmar . France
Salon Art Élysées . Éditions Bucciali . Paris . France
Salon Art Nîm . Éditions Bucciali . Nîmes . France
Exposition collective .197 Design . Brumath . France
2011
Réalisation des premières gravures de la série "Lignes Contenues"
Exposition collective .197 Design . Brumath . France
2010
Résidence et exposition au musée Boribana . Dakar . Sénégal
Exposition atelier Crupi architectes . Colmar . France
2009
Ateliers ouverts . Colmar . France
Conception d'une installation pluridisciplinaire . les anciens thermes . Soultzbach . France
2008
Exposition personnelle "Terrien-Céleste" . Galerie Le Lézard . Colmar . France
2007
Ateliers ouverts organisés par l' ACECA . Strasbourg + galerie Le Lézard . Colmar . France
2006
Exposition à l'espace CRÉA . Kingersheim . France
2005
Exposition au couvent des dominicains. Guebwiller . France
Ateliers ouverts organisés par l' ACECA . Strasbourg + galerie Le Lézard . Colmar . France
Exposition personnelle chez Original Design . Colmar . France
2004
Exposition personnelle chez Caractère . Colmar . F
Exposition personnelle " Kuntz im alten Spritzenhaus" . Bahlingen/ Freiburg . D
2003
Exposition collective galerie Sala Barna . Barcelone . Spain
2002
Exposition galerie Les Petits Princes . Montréal . Canada
Exposition restaurant Petit Ours . Strasbourg. France
Le quai aux arts marché d'art . Strasbourg . France
2001
Exposition collective "w.e. rue du château" Centre Rhénan d'Art Contemporain . Altkirch . France
2000
Exposition collective "Avec le temps" CRAC Centre Rhénan d'Art Contemporain . Altkirch . France
1998
Conception et réalisation exposition scolaire " déclics" Villa Steinbach . Mulhouse . France
1997
Exposition collective . I.U.F.M . Colmar . F