Julika Müller

I discovered the sculptor and goldsmith Julika Müller at the Frankfurt Fair many years ago. Between all the ostentatious statement bling and cute girlie trinkets, her works seemed like a visual lifeline and indeed they have a lot of nautical elements: buoys, pieces of wreckage, things that stand their ground and things that sink in the violence of the elements, surfaces that have changed but persisted. Müller's objects and jewellery tell stories that can never be fully grasped but always added to. I am fascinated by this fearless mixture of power and vulnerability, the strong and highly individual visual language, the high artistic quality and I am very pleased to be able to offer her up-cycled works in the RESPCT.ME Gallery. For this action, the artist set up a box in a company that does building renovations, including replacing old windows and doors, to collect all the discarded aluminium parts.

Müller casts compact, dynamic sculptures and unusual, expressive brooches from the melted-down doorknobs and window handles. The moulds can often only be used once or change with each casting, whereby the artist decides in each case which change she will leave in place and which she will discard - one can therefore always speak of unique pieces in these works.