Marlon Mullen Reimagines Magazine Covers in New MoMA Exhibition
The self-taught artist’s first museum solo.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced plans for the latest installment of the ongoing Projects series, showcasing the work of self-taught artist Marlon Mullen on view from December 14, 2024, through April 20, 2025. Known for his lush and playful paintings, Mullen often looks to the glossy covers of art books and magazines as his subject matter, transforming text and image into rich compositions.
Born and based in Richmond, California, Mullen has spent the last 40 years working out of the NIAD Art Center, a progressive art studio for artists with developmental disabilities. While his practice began in printmaking, Mullen shifted focus to painting in the late 2000s when the studio began receiving steady donations of art publications.
The exhibition will feature 25 paintings spanning the last decade, including two recent acquisitions by the museum. Among them is Mullen’s 2017 “Untitled” work which references the Kerry James Marshall‘s Artforum cover from that year. Elsewhere, covers and advertisements from Frieze, Art in America and Sculpture find new life on the canvas, enchanted by an interplay of barcodes, letters and numbers. Additionally, a new work inspired by the cover of MoMA’s Van Gogh: The Starry Night will be making its debut.
Staying true to both the essence source material and his signature graphic style, Mullen’s work follows a long tradition art about art. Through this process of radical reimagining, the artist explores semiotics of text, form and image, offering, as per the museum, an “invitation to engage with today’s art world on his own painterly terms.”
Museum of Modern Art
11 W 53rd St,
New York, NY 10019
