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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 (Cosmology), 2023

    gouache and oilstick rubbing on canvas
    39.37 x 39.37 in (100 x 100 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Lines over Colors), 2023

    oilstick and acrylic on canvas
    78.74 x 78.74 in (200 x 200 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, Untitled (Yellow Monster 18), 2017

    archival digital print, oilstick on canvas | 8 parts, each 37.5 x 53 x 2 cm

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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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  • 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 Sign), 2015

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

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Behind That Person), 2011

    oilstick and acrylic on canvas, rubbing
    75.2 x 48.82 in (191 x 124 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Behind that Person), 2011

    oil stick and acrylic on canvas
    75.2 x 48.82 in (191 x 124 cm)

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  • Matt Mullican, Untitled (Overall Chart: Frame Centered Elements), 2010

    acrylic, oil on canvas | each 244 x 122 cm
    192.13 x 96.06 in (488 x 244 cm)

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