Mullican rose to prominence as a member of
The Pictures Generation along with such artists as
Troy Brauntuch,
Jack Goldstein,
David Salle,
James Welling,
Sherrie Levine,
Cindy Sherman,
Louise Lawler,
Richard Prince and
Robert Longo. His work is concerned with systems of knowledge, meaning, language, and signification. Mullican also works with the relationship between perception and reality, between the ability to see something and the ability to represent it. Since the 1970s, Mullican has been known for his
performances done while under
hypnosis. During these performances, Mullican channels an alter ego known as 'That Person', who displays extreme and erratic behavior. Drawings made by Mullican while hypnotized are frequently exhibited and attributed to 'That Person'. Mullican's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since the early 1970s at venues including
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Haus Der Kunst, Munich, Germany, the National Galerie,
Berlin, Germany, the
Stedelijk Museum,
Schiedam,
Netherlands,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, and
The Museum of Modern Art, NY. Mullican's work has been reviewed in
Artforum, the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
The New York Times, and
Modern Painters, among others. Mullican has been exhibited in 2017 on the Petit Palais' facade in Paris during the
FIAC art fair with his giant piece of art "For Worlds Between Five".
Teaching Mullican was a professor at the
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg (German: Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg) in
Hamburg,
Germany, from 2009 to 2018. He has also taught and lectured at
Columbia University;
The School of Visual Arts; the
Rijksakademie in Amsterdam;
The London Institute; and the
Chelsea College of Art and Design. == References ==