Since the early 1970s, Matt Mullican has been interested in models for explaining the world. He has developed a complex system of pictograms and primary colors, to which he attaches specific symbolic values, in order to understand the structure of the world. He uses his system to portray every aspect of the human condition in different symbolic combinations. For example, green stands for the material or objective world, blue for the everyday world, yellow for ideas, white and black for language, and red for the subjective. This model of perception Mullican identifies as “the theory of the five worlds”. It serves as an artistic organizational method of working, which allows him to explore the relationship between the world and its representation, in particular, how we attach meaning to things/signs and their systems.
Mullican’s “parallel universe” encompasses a vast range of media and forms of expression, extending from fragile models to heavy iron and glass sculptures, from cycles of drawings and photographic works via collages and light boxes with computer-generated images of imaginary cityscapes to videos and films. He assembles them into open works reminiscent of interpretive classifications, which are designed and presented as virtual worlds, often in connection with hypnosis and performances.
Exhibition in Split titled “Entering the Picture” will show the selection of works created over the last three decades that will present various segments of the artist’s practice – his rubbings, banners, sculptures, works on paper, videos and installations.
Matt Mullican was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1951 and lives and works in Berlin and New York. He has had many solo exhibitions at important international museums including Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2018), Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2016), Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2011), and Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne (2010), among many others. The artist's works can be found in major public collections: Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, and others.
