Texts on Felicia Mülbaier's work
February 2022 aino nebel, artist we don`t actually know what it is. if there is something. a thingy. shapeless. unborn. maybe has been there for some time. we cannot see it. or: cannot look at it. only look past it. maybe from the corner of our eyes, in the blink of an eye. and yet: what a presence! it almost collapses but look! a tectonic force slides on, monumentally. and now those words. more dangerous though than the direct gaze. as if our hands cover a butterfly. a flurry and fluttering in the palms of the hands. a yearning for light and air and freedom. no other choice than to quietly withdraw the hands, and the words. but I want to whisper to you don´t let them catch you! don´t let them chase you! spread your wings in the sunlight and sit still. for felicia february 2022 aino nebel, artist
December 2023 Sabine Kuehnle, sculptress Die Künstlerin Felicia Mülbaier arbeitet vorzugsweise mit Steinen, von denen seit jeher eine große Faszination ausgeht und die schon seit Jahrtausenden als Schmucksteine Verwendung finden. Doch reiht sich Felicia Mülbaier nicht in die herkömmliche Schmuckgestaltung ein und formt aus dem Stein ein Objekt ihrer Vorstellung, vielmehr geht sie vor wie eine Archäologin. Der Stein, den sie jeweils bearbeitet, erzählt ihr während des lang andauernden Arbeitsprozesses, welcher einer Freilegung gleichkommt, seine eigene Geschichte und so kommt ein Objekt zum Vorschein, das uns erstaunen lässt. Es verbindet uns beim Betrachten ganz unmittelbar mit dem Ursprung unseres Daseins. Die Werke von Felicia Mülbaier tragen eine Botschaft in sich, die so rätselhaft bleibt wie die Gestaltungen selbst, die sich aus dem Zusammenstoß von Chaos und Ordnung bilden. Sabine Kuehnle, Mentorin von Felicia Mülbaier in Runde 8 des Kunst-Mentoring – ein Projekt des Kunstbüros Rheinland- Pfalz
Insignia of silence Prof. Ute Eitzenhöfer Pieces of jewellery made out of stone, seemingly from a world where time does not exist. A world that is disconnected from the noise of everyday life and from all those obstructive trivia of our daily routines. Pieces of jewellery as witnesses of a world where the strongest power is silence. They have internalized silence, revealing at the same time how fragile this silence is and how transient it can be if mindfulness and care are lost. An inquiring mind, steadfast, patient, dedicated, searching, observant, perceptive and sharp, open, eager to discuss, authentic, curious and serious. Those are characteristics that come to mind when I think of Felicia Mülbaier. Time and again, looking at her pieces fills me with wonder. I become aware of the many hours of constant work in a noisy and wet lapidary workshop to create these pieces. How many hours of approximation, how many broken pieces, how much patience and how much discipline. And yet it seems as if the work’s hardship and severity does not stay with these pieces. We cannot see it. We cannot feel it. What we feel instead are determination and resolve emerging at the end of a long way, a very long peregrination. Finally, there is a piece of stone as the essence of what matters. Concentrated silence. Almost unassailable in its monolithic power. Only on the edges and those places where the material is thinning, where fissures become visible, fractures become visible, we can sense which way leads towards lightness. They are left on purpose, incorporated into the pieces – and they make us even more acutely aware of the treasure we hold in our hands. What a treasure it is that we are wearing. And how mindful we need to be in order to wear it. A stone that we cannot wear as a sparkling ornament, but as a reminder of its defining features hardness, colourfulness and fragility. They all become visible and tangible at the same time. A stone that narrates the world – in all its beauty, its vulnerability and its possible consequences. Prof. Ute Eitzenhöfer
Doreen Timmers Art historian and gallerist Every now and then, you come across a work of art whose appearance is difficult to capture in words. Indeed, any description is likely to limit the story Felicia’s works tell us. Her jewellery pieces, which I would rather call ‘sculpture’ or even ‘wearable poetry’ are made from lapis lazuli, a gemstone in royal blue. Felicia shapes her material in such a way that she allows the evolving pieces to speak, to stimulate our imagination. The associations are diverse and numerous: archaeological discoveries, landscapes, a glimpse of the future, a torn rug, fabric flapping in the wind, a wing, a button, a frame. With endless grinding and filing, Felicia transforms the hard, cold stone into a window: fragile, open and narrative. Doreen Timmers Art historian and gallerist
Prof. Elisabeth Holder Felicia Mülbaier as I got to know her as a student, experiencing her work, what I have seen until now, what moves me: How she engages with the world is reflected in her work and marked by a quiet persistence to take her material to its limits, thereby challenging it to speak. The aesthetic objects that have evolved from this process oscillate between the poles of material object and symbol and move us with their inscribed vulnerable fragility. Prof. Elisabeth Holder
Julia Wild Humanities scholar Der Flügel eines Insekts. Ein Fragment, vollkommen in seiner Form und Struktur. Die materialisierte Erinnerung eines Moments. Der nicht spürbare Hauch einer Bewegung, Sinnbild einer Verwandlung. Auf meiner Fingerkuppe liegend, so unendlich zart und fragil, beschreibt er besser als Worte die Arbeiten von Felicia Mülbaier. Aus Stein herausgearbeitet sind es Fundstücke von etwas Immateriellem. Sie bewahren die Spuren der Zeit, die es braucht, um etwas zuvor Unfassbarem eine Form zu geben. Zeit, in der es den Moment zwischen Existenz und Nicht-Existenz gibt, der nach einer Entscheidung verlangt, etwas zu zerstören oder zu bewahren, zu verdecken oder zu enthüllen. So bewegen sich Felicias Stücke auf der Trennlinie zwischen Hervorbringen und Vergehen. Dies gibt den Stücken eine besondere Aufmerksamkeit, denn sie machen die Flüchtigkeit bewusst, lassen den Betrachter innehalten. Nehmen ihn mit auf den Flügelschlägen der Imagination. Julia Wild Humanities scholar