NYAB Event - Martin Mull "The Four Seasons and Other New Works"

Martin Mull "The Four Seasons and Other New Works"

Stellan Holm Gallery

This event has ended.

Stellan Holm Gallery presents an exhibition of new works by painter Martin Mull, entitled The Four Seasons and Other New Works. This will be Martin Mull's second solo exhibition at Stellan Holm Gallery.

In The Four Seasons and Other New Works, Martin Mull's reinterpretation of the theme of the four seasons finds itself transplanted onto the contemporary landscape of Los Angeles, CA. This series of four large-scale, color paintings depicts various black-and-white nude figures residing within the colorful, suburban backdrop of LA, where a lack of any distinguishable season becomes quickly apparent. The reference points for the human figures are culled from popular nudist magazines from the 1950's and 60's. Combined with the artist's own photographs of LA taken with a disposable 35mm camera; the result is a pastiche of time, place, and season, where fragments of an ambiguous narrative unfold.

In a series of small black-and-white paintings, Mull revisits the imagery of vintage nudist magazines, in which nude figures partake in ordinary, quotidian activities. These bucolic and candid images convey something entirely different than the traditional, posed nude so prevalent to the history of Western art. They appear to lack any sense of self-consciousness; their presence simultaneously intimate yet unfamiliar, commonplace yet curious.

Mull utilizes a unique blend of traditional painting techniques and postmodern appropriation, whereby the artist pieces together imagery from multiple photographic sources, then renders them in paint. A cutout, collage feeling is retained, allowing the viewer a glimpse into the process. Mull frequently paints his subjects in grisaille, a technique of rendering in varying shades of gray. The monochromatic palette not only gives a sculptural quality to its figures, but also allows the viewer to step back to a time and place before the use of color photography.

Born in 1943, Martin Mull was raised in the era that he illustrates. He received his BFA (1965) and MFA (1967) from Rhode Island School of Design.

[Image: Martin Mull "Spring" (2009) oil on linen 50 x 70 in.]