Mark Mulhern is an American painter best known for his large figurative works capturing the human experience. In each piece, Mulhern encourages the viewer to enter his realm of real and imagined scenes where his characters engage in the simple acts of walking and conversing to more sumptuous moments of making party preparations, enjoying elegant gatherings.
Mulhern has had a love affair with France since the 1970s when he studied in Paris. Since then, he has made numerous trips to France. With a sketchbook in hand, he studies gestures and body language and makes drawings wherever he goes.
Using a vibrant color palette to enliven his paintings, he encourages the viewer to become part of the scene. With his careful arrangement of form, color, and space, Mulhern’s abstracted figures express movement without getting caught up in details. This is a direct result of working primarily from his imagination and sketchbook.
Mulhern’s work is included in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris, France; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI; Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI; among others.
In 2024 Mulhern will have a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Wisconsin Art.
The Tory Folliard Gallery has represented the artist since 1988.
