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Matt Mullican

Since the 1970s, US artist Matt Mullican has been interested in models for explaining the world. He has developed a complex system of symbols consisting of various pictograms and colors as a means of tackling the question of the structure of the world, and with his system he aims to portray in symbols every aspect of the human condition in different combinations.

Every color has a specific symbolic value attached to it. For example, green stands for material, blue for the everyday world, yellow for ideas, white and black for language and red for the subjective.

The model of perception that Mullican calls the theory of the five worlds serves him as a system of order for his method of working as an artist. It illustrates the relationship between the world and its representation. The artist is particularly interested in how we charge symbols and systems of symbols with meaning. —Nikolaus Bischoff

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Red Cosmology & Details), 2024

    gouache and oil stick rubbing on canvas, 2 Parts
    157.48 x 157.48 in (400 x 400 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Cosmology: Full Color), 2024

    gouache and oil stick rubbing on canvas
    78.74 x 78.74 in (200 x 200 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Glenn: Stick Figure Framed), 2024

    acrylic and oil stick rubbing on canvas
    68.9 x 39.37 in (175 x 100 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Between the Subject and the Sign / Between the Sign and the Frame / Between the Frame and the World / Between the World and the Elements), 2023

    oilstick on canvas, rubbing | 4 parts, 100 x 100 cm each total 200 x 200 cm

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Things change in Heaven - Details 3), 2021

    Acrylic and oil stick rubbing on canvas | 2 parts, total image 200 x 400 cm

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Subjective, Sign, World Framed, World, Elements), 2021

    Suite of multiple-colored traditionally processed and hand-painted terra-cotta tiles, produced by Viùva Lamego, Sintra, Portugal, 2022, housed in a wooden box | 5 parts, each tile 14 x 14 cm | Edition of 64

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  • Matt Mullican, test, 2020

    test
    78.74 x 78.74 in (200 x 200 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Tintin World framed to Elements in Center), 2018

    oilstick, acrylic on canvas, rubbing
    78.74 x 157.48 in (200 x 400 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Colored Elements), 2016

    oilstick, acrylic and gouache on canvas
    59.06 x 118.11 in (150 x 300 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Sign Typeface), 2016

    oilstick, acrylic on canvas, rubbingoilstick, gouache on canvas, rubbing
    59.06 x 118.11 in (150 x 300 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (colored World Frame chart on wall), 2015

    oilstick, gouache on canvas, rubbing | 2 parts, total 200 x 400 x 4

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (2x2 Subjective Sign), 2015

    oilstick, gouache on canvas, rubbing
    78.74 x 78.74 in (200 x 200 cm)

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