Born 1951 in Santa Monica, CA

Lives and works in New York and Berlin

Since the 1970s, Matt Mullican’s multi-media practice has explored signification, representation, and knowledge systems. Investigating how signs function and objects acquire meaning, he developed his own subjective 5-part classification system, which he calls his “theory of the five worlds.” In this cosmology, each colour corresponds to a different level of perception: green represents the material, blue the everyday world, yellow ideas, black and white language, and red the subjective. This nonverbal language of signs and pictograms runs throughout his work, which spans painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, film, neon, stained glass, rubbings, installation, and performance.

Mullican’s work questions the nature of reality and the perceived truths of the universal order, revealing how our world is constructed. He also explores unconscious perception and interpretation through hypnotherapy, sometimes conducted in front of an audience as a performance. His practice thus seeks to offer alternative models for understanding the world and our existence.

Having studied at CalArts in Los Angeles, Mullican is associated with the “Pictures Generation.” He rose to prominence in the early 1980s alongside contemporaries such as Cindy Sherman, David Salle, and Robert Longo.

His work is currently on view in the group exhibition Homeroom: Artists Against the Bomb at MoMA PS1, New York (until 8 February 2027); and is included in the permanent exhibition May I Help You? Posso Ajudar?: Arts and Artists from the 1970s Onwards at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lisbon.

The artist has been the subject of many institutional exhibitions and retrospectives, namely at Kunsthalle St. Annen, Lübeck (2022); Musée des Arts Contemporains, Grand-Hornu (2020); Thomas Schütte Stiftung, Neuss (2019); de Young Museum, San Francisco (2019); Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2018); Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2016); Camden Arts Centre, London (2016); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2011); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2005); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1997) and many more. 

Mullican’s work is found in numerous international public and private collections, notably those of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Haus der Kunst, Munich; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.