Overview

Bridget Mullen’s paintings combine decisive mark-making with intuition and experimentation to conjure psychedelic compositions that oscillate between abstraction and figuration. Instead of sketching or initiating a painting with a concrete idea in mind, Mullen begins each piece with abstract marks, undulating lines, and a layering of color. Each formal development on the canvas informs the next until the totality of choices begins to evoke characteristics of a body—eyes appear and gaze lazily, hair and eyelashes unfurl, and arms and legs spring into motion.

The repetition of lines and a stutter of pigment are signature gestures in her practice, alluding to rapid movement or the passage of time. A visible tension between density and open space remains palpable regardless of composition, favoring exaggerated compression or an illusion of elastic expanse. Sculptural dimensionality and flatness, abstraction and representation, and solidity and fluidity are not oppositions within Mullen’s practice, but rather complementary halves of an enigmatic whole.

 


 

Bridget Mullen holds an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and a BAE from Drake University. She has been awarded residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Headlands Center for the Arts, The Jan Van Eyck Academie, The Lighthouse Works, Roswell Artist-In-Residence Program, The Fine Arts Work Center, MacDowell, and Yaddo. Her recent solo exhibitions include Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; Nathalie Karg, New York, NY; Helena Anrather, New York, NY; and Annet Gelink, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and recent group exhibitions include Anne Barrault, Paris, France; Bosse & Baum, London, UK; Wild Palms, Düsseldorf, Germany; DC Moore, New York, NY; Fahrenheit Madrid, Madrid, Spain; and L21, Mallorca, Spain. She is the 2022 recipient of the Chiaro Award from Headlands Center for the Arts, a 2021 recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowship, and a 2017–2018 recipient of a studio from the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program. Mullen’s work has been featured in Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, Juxtapoz, Maake Magazine, and ArtMaze. Her work is in the collections of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art in Roswell, NM, and the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Long Beach, CA.

Works
  • Bridget Mullen, Shut In In Love, 2024
    Bridget Mullen
    Shut In In Love, 2024
    Oil on canvas
    29 ¾ x 23 ½ in
    75.6 x 59.7 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Classical Sap, 2024
    Bridget Mullen
    Classical Sap, 2024
    Oil and acrylic on linen
    56 x 42 in
    142.2 x 106.7 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Colony Knot, 2024
    Bridget Mullen
    Colony Knot, 2024
    Oil on linen
    60 x 40 in
    152.4 x 101.6 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday #49, 2023
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday #49, 2023
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
    30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday #50, 2023
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday #50, 2023
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
    30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday #52, 2023
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday #52, 2023
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
    30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Blood's Bluff, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Blood's Bluff, 2022
    Flashe on linen
    84 x 60 in
    213.4 x 152.4 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Double Blind (2), 2019-2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Double Blind (2), 2019-2022
    Flashe and spray paint on canvas
    22 x 42 in
    55.9 x 106.7 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Spiral's Rules, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Spiral's Rules, 2022
    Flashe on linen
    76 x 50 in
    193 x 127 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Your Face Should Be the Least of Your Worries, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Your Face Should Be the Least of Your Worries, 2022
    Flashe and spray paint on canvas
    40 x 30 in
    101.6 x 76.2 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Original Frontier, 2019-2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Original Frontier, 2019-2022
    Monoprint and Flashe on linen
    48 x 32 in
    121.9 x 81.3 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Pusher's Petals, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Pusher's Petals, 2022
    Flashe and spray paint on canvas
    40 x 30 in
    101.6 x 76.2 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #44, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #44, 2022
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #39, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #39, 2022
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #48, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #48, 2022
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
    30.5 x 22.9 cm
  • Bridget Mullen, Locks, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Locks, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    56 x 42 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Block, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Block, 2021
    Flashe and acrylic on linen
    22 x 15 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Sunset As Self, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Sunset As Self, 2021
    Flashe and acrylic on linen
    20 x 16 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Cave, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Cave, 2022
    Flashe and acrylic on paper
    28 x 22 inches
    Framed 31 x 25 inches
  • Bridget Mullen, Mediocre Graffiti Just Breaks My Heart (NY), 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Mediocre Graffiti Just Breaks My Heart (NY), 2021
    Flashe on paper
    Painting: 30 x 22 in
    Framed: 34 x 26 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Iridescent And Not Gonna Take It Anymore, 2022
    Bridget Mullen
    Iridescent And Not Gonna Take It Anymore, 2022
    Flashe and spray paint on paper
    28.5 x 22.25 inches
    Framed 31.5 x 25.5 inches
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #16, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #16, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #15, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #15, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #11, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #11, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #24, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #24, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #14, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #14, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #37, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #37, 2021
    Flashe and spray paint on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #30, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #30, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Angle Grinder (3), 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Angle Grinder (3), 2021
    Flashe on linen
    20 x 16 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Birthday Series #36, 2021
    Bridget Mullen
    Birthday Series #36, 2021
    Flashe on linen
    12 x 9 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Death Prep, 2017
    Bridget Mullen
    Death Prep, 2017
    Acrylic paint on panel
    48 x 36 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Abstraction Is Inevitable, 2018
    Bridget Mullen
    Abstraction Is Inevitable, 2018
    Flashe and spray paint on linen
    70 x 68 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Live Wires, 2017
    Bridget Mullen
    Live Wires, 2017
    Acrylic paint on panel
    48 x 36 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Pussies, 2016-20
    Bridget Mullen
    Pussies, 2016-20
    Flashe, acrylic, and spray paint on paper
    30 x 22 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Dutch Mud, 2017
    Bridget Mullen
    Dutch Mud, 2017
    Acrylic paint on linen
    24 x 22 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Wolf, 2020
    Bridget Mullen
    Wolf, 2020
    Flashe on paper
    16.125 x 11.25
  • Bridget Mullen, You're Home, You're Bacteria, 2020
    Bridget Mullen
    You're Home, You're Bacteria, 2020
    Flashe on linen
    26 x 16 in
  • Bridget Mullen, The Kiss, 2018
    Bridget Mullen
    The Kiss, 2018
    Flashe, spray paint, and ink on canvas
    20 x 16 in
  • Bridget Mullen, Greater Eclipse, 2019
    Bridget Mullen
    Greater Eclipse, 2019
    Flashe on linen
    16 x 20 in
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