Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller at Harlan Levey Projects

Artists: Willehad Eilers, Philip Mueller

Exhibition title: Reality Kings

Venue: Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, Belgium

Date: April 1 – May 22, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels

In partnership with Carbon 12 Gallery (Dubai), Harlan Levey Projects presents the first collaborative exhibition of Willehad Eilers and Philip Mueller. Titled Reality Kings,the exhibition consists of a series of four handed paintings as the two artists make use of their respective specific skills in order to build a body of work that is neither Eilers’ nor Mueller’s. The crude lines typical of the former, clashing with the refined style of the latter, merge into a new production that is not so much a planned project as the result of fruitful serendipity. What keeps the artist’s work together is their similar approach to narration, as both populate a world with recurring characters playing out scenes of debauchery, boredom, and isolated luxury on an arranged stage. As a centerpiece of the exhibition, is a large-scale painting that acts as an ode to Thomas Couture’s Romains de la décadence,a 19th century work depicting vice in Ancient Rome. The Romanpoet Juvenal declared that ”Crueller than war, vice fell upon Rome and avenged the conquered world”.

Willehad Eilers(b. 1981, Germany) also works under the pseudonym Wayne Horse. He lives and works in Amsterdam. Beginning his career in the German graffiti scene, Eilers later went on to graduate from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam before attending the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including Concordia, Enschede; De School, Amsterdam; Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam; Centraal Museum, Utrecht; Beit Ha’ir Museum, Tel Aviv; Tramway, Glasgow; The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, and Museo Civico di Pallazzo della Penna, Perugia. He participated in various international biennials and festivals, such as The Venice Biennale, and his video work was awarded with the Best International Film award at the WDNX festival of Moving Image in Canada. Eilers’ work is part of several collections including the VandenBroek Foundation/ LAM Lisse.

Philip Mueller (b. 1988, Austria)has presented his work in solo exhibitions at Carbon 12, Dubai; Salsali Private Museum (SPM), Dubai, and Galerie Austria, Vienna. His work was exhibited at international fairs and institutions including Kunstraum am Schauplatz, Vienna; Künstlerhaus, Vienna and Q Contemporary, Beirut. Mueller is one of the founding members behind Wiener Achse,an association for Transnational and Intergenerational exchange of the Arts. His work is part of various collections including those of the Belvedere 21. Museum of Contemporary Art,Vienna and the Salsali Private Museum (SPM), Dubai.

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Life is Life, 2020-2021, Oil on canvas, 260 x 450 cm – 102 3/8 x 177 1/8 in.

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Life is Life, Installation view Reality Kings, Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, 2021

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Life is Life, 2020-2021, Oil on canvas, 260 x 450 cm – 102 3/8 x 177 1/8 in. Detail

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Reality Queen, 2021, Oil on canvas, 160 x 145 cm – 63 x 57 1/8 in

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Reality Queen, Installation view Reality Kings, Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, 2021

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Reality Queen, 2021, Oil on canvas, 160 x 145 cm – 63 x 57 1/8 in. Detail

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Reality Kings, 2019, Oil on canvas, 180 x 160 cm – 70 7/8 x 63 in

Willehad Eilers & Philip Mueller, Reality Kings, Installation view Reality Kings, Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels, 2021