The Branigan Cultural Center is pleased to present the works of mixed media landscape artist Robert Mullenix. His new series, blown, reflects a dual interest in photography and painting. The exhibition opens at 5 pm Friday, September 5, and runs through Saturday, September 27, in our newly renovated Shannon Gallery.
In his artist statement, Mullenix describes his creative process:
“The photograph is the basis for these images; it reflects a conceptual, as well as a physical distance from the subject matter, as we tend to experience the outdoors vicariously through the filter of media. Derived from photographs of trees, generally found in publication, and digitally manipulated, I enlarge these images using photocopies–emphasizing the dot-matrix of the print process. The photocopies are altered via collage and the toner is often transferred to either canvas or board. This is the basis for the final painting; the photographic image is repainted using acrylic and/or oil paint. While it is often the case that the dot pattern of the print process dictates the brush mark (sometimes repeating, sometimes echoed by pointillist-like brush strokes), the color and light are invented. In keeping with these tensions, I investigate cool/warm, high key/low key contrasts, as well as luminescence and iridescence. I am increasingly interested in abstraction and perception, color and fields of pattern which read as foliage. The end result is that the final image is partially photographic, partially hand-rendered, and almost always pixilated–the photograph is translated into paint. The hand of the artist is subject to the mechanics of the photographic process. The photographic image is transformed by the hand of the artist.”
shift, 6″ x 9″, 2014, courtesy Robert Mullenix
Mullenix earned his Bachelor of Arts from Sioux Falls College in 1987. He received his MFA in painting in 1990, and his MA in Art Education in 1995, both from the University of Illinois. His works have been featured in exhibitions throughout the US.
The Branigan Cultural Center is located at 501 North Main Street. The Branigan Cultural Center will be closed for renovation June 30 – late August. Upon reopening, regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 am to 4:30 pm. The exhibits and events are free and open to the public.For more information, contact the Branigan Cultural Center at (575) 541-2154 or visit the Center’s website at las-cruces.org/museums.