Director of Marketing and Communications Jaede Bayala and Studios Inc intern Lane Estrada-Diaz recently visited Armin Mühsam’s solo exhibition, “The Remains of the World,” at Haw Contemporary.
Lane Estrada-Diaz writes:
“Exploring the world through the space it occupies, Armin Mühsam’s solo exhibition, The Remains of the World, opened to the public on October 23rd, 2026.
“Condensed Associations”, painted by Armin Müsham in 2024, is a composition of black geometric lines over pink and white shapes foregrounding a living room scene with patterned walls and floors. It is the titular work of Haw Contemporary’s latest exhibition. Through interactions of space with color and line, Mühsam explores themes of reality and being.
Like its title, The Remains of the World examines the contexts in which art can give and take. With cubist and modernist influences and collage aesthetics, Mühsam deconstructs and reconstructs the meanings of reality. His technique of painting over magazines, completely obscuring the image below, adds depth to his work. The cubists broke down linear depth and perception, while Mühsam’s use of line enhances it, with many of the works on display playing with a three-dimensional view. These juxtapositions reference the conflict between materiality and the spiritual prevalent in our society.
Armin Mühsam’s mixed use of realism with pure form makes me anticipate what will be next for him as he continues to expand his practice.
Jaede Bayala writes:
“The Remains of the World is an expansive collection of works by Armin Mühsam that investigates the reworkings of time and space. With both Renaissance and Cubist influences, Mühsam creates snapshots of surreal moments in time. Colorful, patterned 2D shapes sit on pedestals in a 3D plane, which seek to question, “What is reality?” The artist decorates these shapes with patterns: stripes, wood grain, and marble. In the scenes set outside, light often casts a shadow through the very edge of the painting, leaving the viewer to wonder just exactly how far these worlds expand.
In the front of the exhibition is a cluster of smaller works spread across the walls. These paintings have a collage sensibility, being paintings made on top of pages from Artforum magazine. It is exciting to see where Mühsam has chosen to paint with the objects in the magazine pages, and where he has painted directly on top of them, obscuring almost the entire image. These different levels of transparency have one getting up close and personal with the work, trying to look behind the paint.
Armin Mühsam’s use of line and form has created a distinct visual language that allows him to continue to grow and evolve, and I can’t wait to see what shape it takes next.