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  • An abstract painting with textured strokes and crisp edges. “ARTFORUM” is written in black on a teal background above a large white mass with overlapping orange, blue, and black shapes.

Marlon Mullen

Untitled
Now On View

Maker

Marlon Mullen (American, b. 1963 in Richmond, California)

Title

Untitled

Year

2015

Medium

  • Acrylic on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

86.4 x 86.4 cm (34 x 34 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Avo Samuelian and Hector Manuel Gonzalez

Object Number

2020.72.16

Type

  • Paintings

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 17: Variance

This issue complements the RISD Museum exhibition Variance: Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability, on view through October 9, 2022.

Exhibition History

Art and Design from 1900 to Now
Jun 04, 2022 – Sep 01, 2026

Label copy

Above rather uncertain imagery, this brushy painting spells out ARTFORUM. Artist Marlon Mullen, an African American man with autism and expressive aphasia, rarely uses spoken or written language to communicate. He does, however, often incorporate words from found photographs or magazine covers into his original visual compositions. Working from a cover of Artforum, a magazine devoted to contemporary art and art criticism, Mullen appropriates an important mouthpiece for the art world and translates it into his own personal and rather private painterly vocabulary.

–Conor Moynihan, associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs

Variance
Making, Unmaking, and Remaking Disability
Feb 01, 2022 – Oct 09, 2022

Label copy

Under rather uncertain imagery, this brushy painting spells out “ARTFORUM.” Artist Marlon Mullen often works from found photographs or magazine covers, translating them into his own aesthetic. He first came to the attention of the art world through his involvement with NIAD Art Center in Richmond, California. NIAD was founded in 1985 as the National Institute of Art and Disabilities, but its acronym also stands for Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development.

An African American man with autism and expressive aphasia, Mullen rarely uses spoken or written language to communicate. Therefore, we invite viewers to consider this work without curatorial interpretation.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Marlon Mullen (American, b. 1963 in Richmond, California)
Untitled, 2015
Acrylic on canvas
86.4 x 86.4 cm (34 x 34 inches)
Gift of Avo Samuelian and Hector Manuel Gonzalez 2020.72.16

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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