Dave Muller: The World on a Wheel

The Approach W1 is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Dave Muller. ‘The World on a Wheel' is the fourth solo show at the gallery by the LA-based artist, curator, musician, cultural agitator, DJ and avid record collector.

Muller's practice considers the aesthetic, social and personal exchanges that take place around cultural registries and mythologies. In Muller's work, music is inextricably linked to the construction of cultural identity. His ‘zips' (alluding to Barnett Newman's ‘zips' of colour) are paintings of the spines of his or his subject's favourite records which act as portraits. In size, they correspond to his subject's height with their arms outstretched, playing with the traditions of representation of human form and identity in portraiture.

With Like/Love, Muller arranges the painted spines of records by a miscellany of artists (including Alice Cooper, Madonna, Martin Rev, Mississippi Fred McDowell, The Virgin Prunes) to form the sentences ‘I Like Your Music' and ‘I Love Your Music'- two phrases uttered by his daughter Grace in her second year. The record spines are scaled to the same size as their combined highest point of reach (8 feet for Muller, and 4 feet for Grace).

The 24 categories listed on the header of a music blog are arranged in the shape of a star in The world in perforated lines (http://deanmartinez.blogspot.com) Star, and rendered as if they were preserved cultural/historical mementos clipped out of a drastically aged publication or document.

The title of the show is drawn from Muller's exploration of the varied meanings and interchanges of the word "world", referring to the Earth (the sphere), but also to cultural surroundings (the art world, the music world, etc.) Muller is interested in the representation of 3D objects in a 2D manner- the flattening of the ‘world' on paper translates into painted spheres. The drawings in the littlebigball series depict a 2 1/2" disco-ball blown up to huge, perhaps planetary object proportions.

Alongside these framed works, Muller also exhibits paintings drawn directly onto the gallery walls. They are broadcast across the space as imaginary spheres made of clover in Green World, Another Green World, and Other Green World, or as a word-spiral that lists the genre categories of the ‘zips' from Muller's last show at The Approach E2, in order of appearance.

Dave Muller's recent solo exhibitions include: ‘I Like Your Music I Love Your Music', Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain (2008); ‘Piles and Globes, Likes and Loves', Blum & Poe (2007); ‘I WANT IT LOUDER', Gladstone Gallery, New York (2006); Los Angeles; ‘Thirty-Three Revolutions And One Third, The Approach, London (2005) ; The Wrong Gallery, New York (2005); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2004)

Recent group shows include: Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL (2007); Biennale of Sydeny, Australia (2006); Trade, White Columns, New York (2005); Whitney Museum Biennale, New York (2004)

Dave Muller
The World on a Wheel