Matt Mullican: More Details From An Imaginary Universe

by Kathy O'Dell, Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen

Throughout his three-decade career, artist Matt Mullican has always been more concerned with what we think we see than with what we see, taking as a foundational truth the notion that we understand the world primarily through our imagination. Working in various media, Mullican's unique artistic vision concerns itself with a universe of simple yet mysteriously resonant graphic symbols. Drawing on the language of warning labels and highway signs, Mullican has created an unorthodox body of work that occupies a unique place in the world of contemporary art--his piece Five Into One (1991) was one of the earliest artistic forays into the medium of virtual reality. Details From an Imaginary Universe collects Mullican's videos, installations, and drawings from 1972 up to the present day, providing a comprehensive overview of this artist who has tapped and explored our collective visions of a world that in its very familiarity is utterly alien to us.

Paperback

First published February 6, 2001