Born in the year 1943 in an “inartistic" family, she uses the all too willingly chances to go to Colombia in her younger years, where all that what is offered there is that what she calls “life”. Here she completely dedicates herself to her artistic aspirations. She allows her talent, however not to run immediately free, so that she can take the time to sharpen first of all, her skills in a traditional classic style training, in which she has been equipped with the fundamental craft in theory and practice, that she learned from the old masters, such as the known South American artists David Manzur and Francisco Ariza particularly in the difficult technique of porcelain painting.
The techniques in which Iris Muehe works are diverse. However her secret preference is meant for the porcelain painting technique, extremely expensive and particularly extensive in production, in this particular technique she puts under evidence her artistic perfection. She is successful on international exhibitions with precious individual pieces and has received numerous distinctions and awards as for example gold and bronze in the Minneapolis-World-convention.
If this porcelain painting technique were to belong to a subtle reserved product, she would then dedicate her vitality to paintings and collages with oil paints on carton, canvas and Acrylic glass.
Preferably she paints with her fingertips rather than with a paintbrush, in order to exploit the advantage of the optimal smooth picture carrier surface.
In this way “rear glass painting” technique arises, whose multi layered strokes are not distinguished crossings, they are instead hardly noticeably in each other.
The normally hard, almost rejecting effect of “rear glass painting, is then no longer a topic of conversation.
The artist produces a considerable amount of connecting themes in this technique to create a larger picture format such as triptych and diptych.
When Iris Muehe wants to train her graphic qualities, she then concentrates on the graphical field. Now comes to mind Indian ink and oil chalk drawings, as well as lithography, she uses these materials and techniques as a means of study to develop a wide spectrum of graphical creations.
Her creative energy is inexhaustible. Her technique, her personal style and her ideas that took shape in the material world are versatile and varied.
New stimulation obtains Iris Muehe from her numerous journeys abroad and longer study in foreign countries. Especially valuable are the friendships to reputable artists, such as Mario Donizetti from Italy. She goes with open eyes and ears thru the world, and is open to all impressions revealed. She then incorporates these into her own personal language of painting style and reflects them outward to the observer.
Dr. Barbara Haubold
Art Historitian
