Tory Folliard Gallery - Mark Mulhern

Milwaukee artist, Mark Mulhern portrays the nature of everyday objects and their surroundings. Some canvases reveal masses of images that tap into the artist’s mind – and that of the viewer. His tabletop still-lifes are engagingly fresh. Liberated figures reveal moments of buoyancy that tap into the viewer’s mind. The suggestion of awkwardness underscores their contemporary feel.

"The isolation of the figure in the field is meant to focus the viewer on the subtle language of the body and limit the visual information to its greatest simplicity. The field the figures occupy plays an important role in the way the paintings resonate. The field acts as both a container and a membrane or veil through which the figure emerges or recedes." -Mark Mulhern

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Madison Art Center, Madison, WI; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; The Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France; Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, WI; Marshall Erdman & Associates, Madison, WI; McDonald’s Corporation, Oakbrook, IL; Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, Milwaukee, WI; Quarles & Brady, LLP, Milwaukee, WI; Quad Graphics, Milwaukee, WI; UW Hospital & Clinics, Madison, WI

LOW TIDE AT MALAHIDE, Oil on Linen, 60 x 70"

SOCCER FIELD, Oil on Linen, 48 x 48"

BROCANTE II, Oil on Linen, 60 x 72"

BROCANTE IV, Oil on Linen, 54 x 60"

ARRIVALS, Oil on Linen, 78 x 90"

BROCANTE III, Oil on Linen, 48 x 48"

DOG PARK, Oil on Linen, 60 x 70"

PEPPER, Oil on Canvas, 36 x 36"

UNTITLED ETCHINGS, Hand-Colored Etching, Various Sizes

UNTITLED MONOTYPES, 41 1/2 x 29 1/2" paper size

WHAT IS A MONOTYPE? All monotypes are unique. To make a monotype, the artist uses a slow-drying ink to paint a design directly onto a flat surface; a plate, Plexiglas or glass. Reductive processes such as wiping or scraping away of the pigments are used in combination with additive processes, such as using rollers or brushes to paint on the printing plate. Paper is then placed on the plate and either pressed by hand or more commonly, run through a press. Because there are no permanent marks on the plate, it is not possible for the artist to create multiples of the image. This form of print is often called the painterly print because it offers many technique choices to create the image.