Born 1980, Freiburg, Germany,

Jochen Mühlenbrinks' works show the silence and solitude that occurs in places that man has touched and left behind. Empty streets, snow covered architecture and parking lots where only tiretracks remain display abandonment in its most confronting way. These scenes are set against an oncoming wilderness. Sometimes this wilderness conquers its forced cultivation, sometimes it seems to patiently wait for its time to grow where humans have left. Even when nature isn't present in his paintings, Mühlenbrink achieves a very existential loneliness by diluting colour and form. Hard shapes are set against flowing forms and he expertly manipulates light to create his pressing atmosphere.

It is very easy to see Mühlenbrinks paintings as a comment on the wastes modern society leaves in its wake. Besides this interpretation of his subjects, his technique reveals an awareness of his position in art and cultural history. He responds to traditions in both landscape and architectural painting, and tries to show their similarities aswell as their contrasts. By shifting his perspective to unstable angles not often seen in this context, he creates the very deliberate feeling of a chance encounter with a forgotten place.

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