ART CITIES:London- Matt Mullican
With his work Matt Mullican aims at understand the order of the world. The starting point of his artistic concept is the examination of the relationships between reality and how it is perceived. In his objective to determine the meaning of things Matt Mullican relies on the encyclopaedic method, using it he is able to categorize what he sees and finds.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Camden Arts Centre Archive
Inspired by Camden Arts Centre’s history as a public library, “The Sequence of Things” layers Mullican’s multiple methods of categorisation and ordering. 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. Mathematically dividing the architectural spaces, the galleries is laden with his book works, pin-boards, posters, drawings, flags, objects, photography and videos, all depicting his various maps, charts, diagrams and symbols. Together, the plethora of works demonstrates his attempts to find methodology behind the relationships at play in the world around us and its representation. Since the ‘70s, 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. His artistic activities concentrate on two areas: On the one hand there are the works which include a variety of display formats, such as drawings, banners, sculptures, videos, photography, installations and graphic works and on the other there are the performance projects in which the artist usually employs the consciousness-expanding technique of hypnosis. Matt Mullican executes performances under hypnosis. Before undergoing hypnosis, he speaks with his hypnotist about what he wishes or should do under hypnosis, for instance having breakfast, sing, read the paper, draw or paint the wall and then does these things following the hypnotist’s directives. The drawings he creates under hypnosis are characterized by spontaneous gestures. They are in part representational, in part abstract, and consist of few lines; freely drawn curves, loops and almost calligraphic characters are dominant. In this manner, in which round letters are connected seamlessly, Matt Mullican draws menus, numerical series, charts and lyrics.
Info: Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road, London, Duration: 30/9/16-8/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue & Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00, Wed 10:00-21:00, www.camdenartscentre.org
