Murray State University visiting artist Armin Mühsam's work "Anthropogenic Landscapes" addresses the dichotomy between the man-made and the natural through the subject matter of landscape. His artist talk is tonight at 5 p.m. in the Fine Arts Building, Room 631, and is followed by a reception. On Sounds Good, Tracy Ross speaks with Mühsam, and drawing professor Dale Leys and Clara Eagle Gallery Director Mike Martin.
Armin Mühsam says he seeks manmade structures through direct observation and transposes to the canvas or recalls an observation and simplifies it, mixing or juxtaposing it with features that are representative of nature: trees, waterways, mountains, etc.
He prefers structures that are stand-ins for the utilitarian architectures that our society produces. His theme is how western society orders, takes possession and intervenes into nature, developing the conflicted relationship that exists today, where we are in human development essentially at a point where we are the masters of nature, he says.