Through his hyperrealistic yet dreamlike paintings, Jochen Mühlenbrink transforms the humble window into a mesmerizing portal between worlds. His fogged and frosted glass surfaces appear so tangible you might instinctively reach out to wipe away the condensation, only to remember these are oil paintings, not panes of glass. Mühlenbrink masterfully manipulates light, texture, and transparency to create works that hover between representation and abstraction — where the physicality of paint becomes indistinguishable from the ephemeral quality of mist and moisture.
The artist’s technique is as precise as it is poetic. Building up layers of translucent and opaque oils, he replicates the way water droplets scatter light, how breath temporarily obscures a surface, or how time and weather leave their marks on glass. Some works feature barely-there traces of fingers wiped across the fog, suggesting human presence without revealing the figure behind. Others capture that fleeting moment when condensation begins to bead and run, freezing the liquid motion in permanent brushstrokes. This interplay between the permanent medium of paint and the transient phenomena it depicts creates a compelling tension at the heart of his practice.
More than technical marvels, Mühlenbrink’s windows serve as metaphors for perception itself. They challenge observers to consider how we see and interpret our surroundings — what we choose to focus on, what remains obscured, and how our understanding shifts when the view is partially veiled. In an era of constant digital clarity, his paintings celebrate the beauty of ambiguity and the poetry of partial vision, reminding us that some of life’s most profound moments occur not in sharp focus, but in the soft, mysterious spaces between seeing and imagining.
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in Bahia. 