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Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, installation view at James Cohan, 533 West 26 St, March 7 - April 20, 2019

LEE MULLICAN Section Implanted

LEE MULLICAN
Section Implanted

1948
Signed on verso, bottom right / Initialed on recto, bottom left
Oil on canvas
29 7/8 x 39 7/8 in.
75.9 x 101.3 cm

 

JCG8898
 

LEE MULLICAN He-Rain

LEE MULLICAN
He-Rain

1949
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 in.
50.8 x 40.6 cm

 

JCG8546
 

LEE MULLICAN Specter on New Sun

LEE MULLICAN
Specter on New Sun

1949
Oil on board
30 x 20 in.
76.2 x 50.8 cm

 

JCG8534
 

LEE MULLICAN Portrait in Answer

LEE MULLICAN
Portrait in Answer

1948
Oil on canvas
36 x 27 in.
91.4 x 68.6 cm


JCG10110
 

LEE MULLICAN Actor in Overture

LEE MULLICAN
Actor in Overture

1949
Signed on verso, bottom right
Oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 40 in.
76.5 x 101.6 cm

 

JCG8899
 

LEE MULLICAN Premiere Mirage 

LEE MULLICAN
Premiere Mirage 

1949
Oil on canvas
20 x 16 in.
50.8 x 40.6 cm

 

JCG8547
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled (The Owl)

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled (The Owl)

1949
Oil on canvas
36 x 26 3/4 in.
91.4 x 68.0 cm


JCG9333
 

LEE MULLICAN Kachina

LEE MULLICAN
Kachina

1959
Oil on canvas
25 x 20 in.
63.5 x 50.8 cm

 

JCG10103

LEE MULLICAN Back Log

LEE MULLICAN
Back Log

1948
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 in.
76.2 x 63.5 cm

 

JCG10112
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1946
Oil on canvas
20 x 24 in.
50.8 x 61.0 cm

 

JCG10113
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

c. 1948
Oil on canvas
70 1/2 x 44 in.
179.1 x 111.8 cm

 

JCG9586
 

LEE MULLICAN Oblique of Agawam 

LEE MULLICAN
Oblique of Agawam 

1950
50 1/2 x 40 in

 

JCG10390
 

LEE MULLICAN Tree Catching Stars 

LEE MULLICAN
Tree Catching Stars 

1968
Oil on canvas
40 x 40 in.
101.6 x 101.6 cm


JCG10094
 

LEE MULLICAN Above and Below 

LEE MULLICAN
Above and Below 

1966
Oil on canvas
75 x 75 in.
190.5 x 190.5 cm

 

JCG10100
 

LEE MULLICAN Deer Well

LEE MULLICAN
Deer Well

c.1968
Oil on canvas
40 x 40 in.
101.6 x 101.6 cm

 

JCG9667
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1963
Oil on canvas
51 x 61 in.
129.5 x 154.9 cm

 

JCG9257
 

LEE MULLICAN Threaded Passage

LEE MULLICAN
Threaded Passage

1963
Oil on canvas
75 x 35 in.
190.5 x 88.9 cm
 

JCG10101
 

LEE MULLICAN The Diamond Mountains

LEE MULLICAN
The Diamond Mountains

1963
Oil on canvas
36 x 24 in.
91.4 x 61.0 cm


JCG8533
 

LEE MULLICAN Wake

LEE MULLICAN
Wake

1949
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 in.
127.0 x 101.6 cm

 

JCG9867
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1968
Oil on canvas
50 1/2 x 75 in.
128.3 x 190.5 cm

 

JCG10151
 

LEE MULLICAN Guardian Window from the Blue Soul Chapel

LEE MULLICAN
Guardian Window from the Blue Soul Chapel

1975
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 in.
127.0 x 101.6 cm

 

JCG10096
 

LEE MULLICAN Kachina Guardian

LEE MULLICAN
Kachina Guardian

1978
Oil on canvas
50 x 30 in.
127.0 x 76.2 cm

 

JCG10092
 

LEE MULLICAN Guardian from the West

LEE MULLICAN
Guardian from the West

1978
Oil on canvas
75 x 50 in.
190.5 x 127.0 cm

 

JCG10095
 

LEE MULLICAN The Will (Testament) Dyn 20

LEE MULLICAN
The Will (Testament) Dyn 20

1951
Ink on paper
14 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.
36.8 x 29.2 cm

 

JCG9594


 

LEE MULLICAN Desert Floor

LEE MULLICAN
Desert Floor

1947
Ink on paper
8 x 10 in.
20.3 x 25.4 cm

 

JCG9841
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1965
Graphite on paper
24 x 18 in.


JCG10215
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1950
Crayon and ink on paper
23 1/2 x 18 1/2 in.
59.7 x 47.0 cm

 

JCG9593
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled 

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled 

1966
Acrylic and pastel on paper
24 x 18 in
61 x 45.7 cm

 

JCG10214
 

LEE MULLICAN Galaxie

LEE MULLICAN
Galaxie

1965
Spray paint, oil, acrylic, and pastel on paper
29 x 23 in.
73.7 x 58.4 cm

 

JCG9353
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1950
Conte on paper
13 7/8 x 16 3/4 in.
35.2 x 42.5 cm

 

JCG9589
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1951
Mixed media on paper
23 3/4 x 18 3/4 in
60.3 x 47.6 cm

 

JCG10212
 

LEE MULLICAN Untitled

LEE MULLICAN
Untitled

1966
Spray paint and pastel on paper
23 3/4 x 18 in.
60.3 x 45.7 cm

 

JCG9277
 

LEE MULLICAN Sketch and Try

LEE MULLICAN
Sketch and Try

1952
Oil and graphite on board
14 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.
37.8 x 50.2 cm


JCG9595
 

Press Release

James Cohan is pleased to present Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater, curated by Michael Auping at the gallery’s Chelsea location, on view from March 7 through April 20, 2019. The gallery will host an opening reception on Thursday, March 7 from 6-8pm.

 

The exhibition Lee Mullican: Cosmic Theater explores the late artist’s sustained interest in the universe as source material for his creative voice. Mullican was a seeker and tirelessly pursued a form of abstraction that connected nature and spirituality. Pulling from a wide range of influences he created works that found new meanings through formal explorations of composition, color, and mark making. In his conversation with Joanne Phillips from 1976, he recalled the push and pull between abstraction in the purest sense and what he explained as his “need for some kind of image.” Through a close examination of his paintings and drawings we begin to understand that these patterns, shapes, and figure-like forms reflect his deep and abiding interest in the cosmos. Mullican’s enduring quest was to create through his art a new perspective. In his richly textured world, the bird’s eye and the mind’s eye are one, with outer space and inner space conflating and commingling on the striated surfaces of the picture plane.

 

The exhibition is curated by Michael Auping, who first met the artist in the early 1970s. They shared a fascination and knowledge of pre-Columbian and Native American art and mythology. Their long discussions often involved the melding of modern and ancient art. Carl Gustav Jung’s idea of a “collective unconscious” found its way into the conversations, a shared belief that connections can exist between vast distances in time and space.

 

The paintings and drawings chosen for the exhibition, some being shown for the first time, map a revealing path through much of Mullican’s career, ending with paintings from his last series, The Guardians. Bringing together work spanning fifty years, the exhibition surveys key themes running through the artist’s career, framing his unusual hybridization of symbolic figuration, abstracted landscapes, and abstract space with his long-time fascination with the sky and the galaxy beyond.  

 

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color illustrated publication, featuring an essay by Michael Auping and published by Scheidegger & Spiess.

 

Lee Mullican was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma in 1919 and died in Los Angeles in 1998. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute after transferring from the University of Oklahoma in 1941. Upon his graduation from the Institute in 1942, Mullican was drafted into the army, serving for four years as a topographical draughtsman. Mullican traveled to Hawaii, Guam and Japan before ending his tenure in the army in 1946, when he moved to San Francisco. After winning a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959, he spent a year painting in Rome before returning to Los Angeles where he joined the teaching staff of the UCLA Art Department in 1961, keeping his position for nearly 30 years. He divided the later part of his life between his homes in Los Angeles and Taos, traveling internationally and co- organizing exhibitions at UCLA. Mullican’s works are included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Hammer Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as in numerous other institutions.

 

Michael Auping is an independent curator and writer based in California and Texas and a specialist in the international developments of Post War art. Over his 40 year career, he has organized numerous exhibitions that have focused on Abstract Expressionism and related movements. As Chief Curator of the Albright Knox Art Gallery, his 1987 exhibition Abstract Expressionism: The Critical Developments was considered the most thorough survey of that movement in over three decades, and the book of the same title redefined the movement from both new European and American perspectives. He also curated major surveys of the work of Clyfford Still and Arshile Gorky. As Chief Curator of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Auping organized Philip Guston: Retrospective. He has also organized exhibitions of the work of John Chamberlain, Susan Rothenberg and Richard Serra.


 

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