Today we’d like to introduce you to Lilli Muller.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born in Coburg Germany, and when I was in my 20s, I decided to travel for six months by myself across the United States to explore the country and see where I would want to continue my life and artmaking: Europe, France, Italy or US. I now live and work now in Los Angeles.
As far back as I can remember, I always knew I would be an artist. Throughout the Highschool years, I was one of the students that got the attention of our art teacher who encouraged and tutored me privately, sitting in castles and ancient churches drawing and learning about light, color, composition, and reflection.
Influenced by my home town and the surrounding area, paved with Middle Age and Renaissance castles, filled with their internationally renowned collections of glass, weapons, armors, ancient churches and monasteries housing famous Cranach sculptures and Durer paintings, and pageant gathering grounds in the woods, Lilli learned to observe not just objects, reflections, light sources, but the textures of her environment, breathing in ancient traditions, world wars, and the essence of Europe.
Another imprint of her childhood was the close proximity to the East German borderline with barbed wire fences, shooting stations and no man’s land with minefields cutting through the rural and beautiful landscape like a bad scar. As a little child I experience first-hand families, my own included, aunts and uncles talking about their family members living “ on the other side” (behind the Iron curtain) ripped apart by the fences for so many years.
Close by nestled in the woods: Buchenwald, the main SS training camp that later, towards the end of the war, became another major concentration camp. I was told by my father being just about 16 when US Army tanks came over my aunt’s fields into the village and took our house for their local headquarters (we were the only house in the village that had plumbing). Yes, that was my life.
Marked by the “Old Country’s” slow bureaucracies, German rules and regulations and the feeling of being closed in, my desire to freely create and find my own voice grew, and I traveled all over Europe to find “my spot”, the very reason why I debarked on the 6-month cross-country journey throughout the United States, as mentioned before, and then chose to settle in Southern California in 1980.
At that time, my work was still largely 2-dimensional and tainted by my conservative “old-school” methods and approach. In Laguna Beach, where I settled for the following ten years, I continued in that vein and started to experiment on how to translate my 2-dimensional drawings into 3D. The pivotal moment happened when I was introduced to plaster casting, which shifted my work in a completely new direction.
Experimentation with plaster gauze allowed me to transform the figurative and body-part drawings into three dimensions. I found my vision. It was a moment of revelation and would define my future works as a multi-media artist. “The gauze texture and overlapping crisscross patterns were the perfect patchwork of what we as human beings are made of – a metaphor of life.
Self-discovery, my own personal development, trials and tribulations in my art were always apparent, starting with my early drawings of my own body, leading me to expanding my study of nudes – exploring the tension, sexuality of male/female, and the differing perceptions of their roles from Europe compared to the more puritanical version and culture in the U.S I was confronted with at that time.”
In 1981, I read an article about Louise Bourgeois that precipitated another life-altering change. Mesmerized by her story, I contacted the renowned French artist and began a lifelong friendship, mentorship, and participation in Bourgeois’ famous art salons and Sunday teatime events. I met and collaborated with many international artists, amounting to a decade of growth that shaped the future direction of my life’s work.
“My time with Louise inspired me to expand my artistic vision beyond myself to embark on new creative journey… seeking an infinite sculpture that continuously changes, evolves, and still remains timeless a metamorphosis. My ongoing international “Mandala Project” is closing in on that vision. In nearing that goal, it’s clear to me that I am doing exactly what I was always meant to do.” I since honed my art and created substantial narratives to address social issues, humanitarian causes, and political turmoil in the world.
Today, most people associate me with my unique signature performances, installations, and images created through figurative body-casting in plaster/fiberglass. Using the human casts as an armature, as my canvas so to speak, my installations are intended to capture the core presence defined by the absence of their origins. I intend to stimulate conversation about topics affecting the global community, empower, inspire and heal with the work I do.
Collectively creating within the community, artmaking with the people, for the people and about the people is the goal at this point: to have the work ripple out, continue, spread and make a difference globally. My other studio works include still drawings (still my passion), some painting and sculpture in a variety of mediums, photography, video, and conceptual installations. Layered stories and narratives are essential to my work, and the key to discovering each installation’s true meaning.
I like to keep the answers open and multi-fold so each and everyone can find something in the work that relates to them personally. I purposely stage the casting sessions mostly in public settings, to give the participants a sense of intimacy, acceptance, communion, ritual, and sensuality. It is an attempt to reformulate our human condition with “freeze-framed” bodies and body parts, by mirroring current situations and capturing the essence of particular moments in time, drawing attention to things we often would rather not see, but inevitably become a part of us all.
Besides making art I consider myself a community activist working in the community, giving back, curating and working with other artists in support of their work, working with organizations like Para Los Ninos, ArtShare LA, Battered Women’s Shelters, to name a few, to empower, to engage dialog and make a difference with what we can, one person and one piece of art at a time.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say the hardest part was, defining my career, considering the aspects of finances and passion and making it work, and the decision of survival as an artist raising my daughter as a single parent. It is a hard and strenuous road not to lose yourself. The “four horses” can easily tear you apart if you don’t pay attention to your priorities.
Career, motherhood and artist, and being a female in this society (still), is a balance act I am proud to feel I have conquered for my own self, without regrets or neglect on anyone’s part.
My own mantra always helped me to define my priorities of career, motherhood, and artist very clearly: “If I don’t have myself (my passion) and continue to develop it consistently, I have nothing to give to my daughter or this world.”
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I don’t think an artist, an authentic, true artist thinks about success in the way most people perceive success. The vision, the meaning of the work, the process and effect it has on others and the world that is what we are after.
Therein lies a great responsibility, and a life long quest so to speak, in how our work lives on, the importance it has, does it stay timeless, does it make a difference. What do we as artists want to leave behind? To me personally, it is about touching and transforming people’s lives with the work I do, one person and one art piece at a time.
That is mission accomplished! Getting people engaged in the artmaking process offers them different awareness while mirroring their own life experiences. As I have witnessed over the years, it is no longer simply about the artwork itself, but the personal impact it has on each individual, and any further change it may cause.
This inspires me to continue making art for the people, with the people, and about the people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lillimuller.us
- Phone: 2132478800
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: TheRealLilliMuller
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilliM99
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
