EXHIBITIONS

MICHAEL MULLER AND SAGE VAUGHN | OPPOSING INSTINCTS

Artists: Michael Muller and Sage Vaughn
Location: The Outsiders London
Dates: Thursday 6th of October 2011 to Saturday 29th of October 2011

Sage Vaughn: a contemporary painter honed in street art noted for his colourful portrayals of wildlife. Michael Muller: a Hollywood photographer with top-flight production values and a personal penchant for underwater photography, especially of sharks. They surf together, and now they make art together. It’s a symbiotic relationship with absolutely spectacular results.

Sage paints in his signature style over Muller’s magnificent photos, creating a whole that’s greater even than the sum of these particular parts.

“I was introduced to Muller in Malibu by a good friend. He told me about a project he had been working towards down in Mexico: great white sharks, underwater lighting systems, cages, it all sounded incredible.

“We'd meet and talk about life, art, waves... One day he asked if I wanted to get some paint on one of the photos he took of the sharks. When I looked at those shots for the first time, my jaw dropped. I’ve been obsessed with sharks since I was a little kid, and even more so since I started surfing, but I had never seen shark images like these. Mike had taken such a different approach to portraying these amazing animals. The amount of character contained in these creatures’ faces was so beautiful, I couldn’t help but be inspired. When our first collaborative piece was finished we knew we were really on to something...”

Michael adds, “It’s sort of like peanut butter with chocolate. What we discovered was that for some reason the two mediums worked for us and we really felt what was being co-created. Sharks and butterflies somehow took the fear of the solo shark away. I have been diving with and without a cage amongst these amazing animals for years, and personally know how safe we are from them, but how do I translate that which I know to people? Working with Sage has accomplished that for me, I feel these pieces somehow some way show these creatures in the way I feel about them.”

Read the press release.