Mark Mulhern portrays the nature of everyday objects and their surroundings. Large stretched canvases reveal carefully positioned figures on broad fields of shifting light and shadow…appearing natural as they exchange subtle gazes and implicit gestures. Liberated from detail, these paintings expose moments of everyday life that tap into the viewer’s mind. Complementing the expressiveness of the figurative works are the artist's simplified abstractions of shape, color and the containment of light.
Read what the PRESS has to say about 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; Chazen 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
MALAHIDE, Oil on Linen, 60 x 70"
VIEWFINDER, Oil on Linen, 44 x 38"
PILGRIMAGE, Oil on Linen, 54 x 60"
PREDAWN (Brocante), Oil on Linen, 54 x 60"
SHOULDER BAG, Oil on Linen, 20 x 24"
ESCALATOR, Oil on Linen, 20 x 23"
WOMAN WITH PURSE, Oil on Linen, 22 x 28"
FIGURE IN STRIPED SHIRT, Oil on Linen, 22 x 24"
BROCANTE III, Oil on Linen, 48x 48"
AQUESTA LUZ, Oil on Linen, 60 x 70"
BEZE KAARS, Mixed Media on Paper, 40 x 51"
DIESES LICHT, ESTA LUZ, LUZ I and LUZ II
Monotypes, 16 x 16" each 30 x 22" 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.
