The papers of New York City and Berlin, Germany based multi-media and conceptual artist Matt Mullican measure 27.8 linear feet and date from circa 1968-2017. The collection consists of biographical material, including a few interview transcripts; correspondence; over 100 notebooks; gallery and exhibition files; project and commission files; personal business records; printed material; and photographs. The notebooks document nearly five decades of Mullican's work process and illustrate his material and conceptual explorations. Large sequences of gallery and exhibition files, as well as project and commission files comprise the remaining bulk of the collection, providing detailed documentation of his professional career, particularly from the 1980s-2000s.
Biographical material includes address books, high school and college ephemera, papers and photographs relating to Mullican's family, identification cards, interview transcripts, a resume, and a few writings.
The small amount of correspondence arranged in Series 2 is with friends, artists, colleagues, fans, and museum professionals. Notable correspondents include artist Lawrence Weiner and museum director Kasper König. Additional professional correspondence is located in the Gallery and Exhibition Files, as well as the Project and Commission Files.
Over 100 notebooks document nearly five decades of Mullican's work process and artistic explorations from the time he was a student up to the present.
A large sequence of gallery and exhibition files encompass a variety of material documenting Mullican's extensive solo and group exhibition history throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Extensive project and commission files contain documentation of international public and corporate commissions, academic engagements, performances, publishing projects, print editions, illustrations, grants, residencies, and other project based artwork. Public and corporate commissions include artworks and installations for banks, airports, office complexes, university buildings, public transit stations, and other spaces.
Personal business records relate to bookkeeping and sales, donations, inventories, publication, copyright, supplies, invoicing, recommendations, residences, storage of works, and studio administration.
Printed material includes announcements, posters, articles, reviews, exhibition catalogs, and periodicals related to Mullican's career.
One folder of photographs documents Mullican, his family, and installations of his work at various venues and exhibitions.
The collection is arranged as eight series.
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Hilary Price in 2017.
Matt Mullican papers, circa 1968-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Matt Mullican (1951- ) is a multi-media and conceptual artist working in New York City and Berlin, Germany. Born in Santa Monica, he is the son of abstract surrealist painters Lee Mullican and Luchita Hurtado Mullican. Educated at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the early 1970s, and mentored by John Baldessari, Mullican moved to New York City after earning his BFA and became associated with the "Pictures Generation" artists, including friends Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, James Welling, and Robert Longo. His multi-disciplinary practice encompasses drawing, painting, collage, video, installation, and performance under hypnosis as his alter ego, 'That Person.' Through these media, Mullican explores systems of knowledge, the construction of reality, as well as meaning, language, and signs. Throughout his career, Mullican has participated in international solo and group exhibitions, and has undertaken dozens of public and corporate commissions.
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of born-digital records requires advance notice.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the
Donated to the Archives of American Art in 2014-2017 by Matt Mullican.
The notebooks series was digitized in 2017-2018 and is available on the Archives of American Art website.
Biographical material dates from 1968-2002 and includes addresses and address books; course materials from CalArts; family papers including a few letters, photographs of Luchita Hurtado Mullican's paintings, a script by John Mullican, loan agreements, and printed material; a high school notebook; identification cards; interview correspondence and transcripts; two books of phone messages; a resume; travel agenda; and a few writings by Mullican about his work, some of which are photocopies.
The small amount of correspondence found here dates from 1986-2000s and is both personal and professional. Items include letters, cards, postcards, emails, and faxes from friends, artists, colleagues, and fans of Mullican's work. Notable correspondents include artist Lawrence Weiner and museum director Kasper König. Additional professional correspondence is located in the Gallery and Exhibition Files, as well as the Project and Commission Files.
Over 100 notebooks document nearly five decades of Mullican's work process, dating from circa 1968-2017. Central to Mullican's practice from the time he was a student up until the present, the notebooks richly illustrate both his material and conceptual exploration. The term 'notebook' is used here to encompass the breadth of content collected in the books, including drawings and sketches, conceptual frameworks, notes, lists, calendars, travel logistics, as well as diary entries. In most cases, Mullican created titles for the notebooks in retrospect. Early subjects tackled as a high school student (including comics, superheroes, and cars) evolve during his time at CalArts and beyond to form the basis of his text-based, conceptual, performance works. The 1970s notebooks demonstrate the development of Mullican's cosmology, the stick figure 'Glen,' and his alter ego 'That Person.' Notebooks from the 1980s-2000s contain plans for public artworks, commissions, exhibition installations, and books. Mullican experimented with a variety of media and techniques throughout the notebooks including pencil, pen, marker, crayon, acetone transfer, and collage. Mullican has identified a few of the notebooks as single works of art, including artist books and altered books. Also arranged here are a diary from 1975 and an undated collection of watercolor studies.
This series has been digitized.
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook
Notebook, "Book 3, High School/CalArts"
Notebook Covers
Notebook, "Tours, Buried Series" (single work)
Notebook, "High School/CalArts, First Studio Experiments?"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts, Early Conceptual Work"
Notebook, "CalArts, Early Conceptual Work"
Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Notebook, "CalArts Handbook with Drawings"
Notebook, "Major Formative Book Outlining All Projects"
Notebook, "The Green Book, Major Formative Book Outlining All Projects"
Notebook, "
Diary
Notebook, "
Notebook, "Major Formative Book Outlining All Projects"
Notebook, "Major Early Signs"
Notebook, "Major Sketchbook, Signs, Posters, etcetera"
Notebook, "Fictional Reality Like Rapidograph" (single work, book 1/3)
Notebook, "Fictional Reality Like Rapidograph" (single work, book 2/3)
Notebook, "Fictional Reality Like Rapidograph" (single work, book 3/3)
Notebook, "Mary Boone Exhibition Planning"
Notebook
Notebook
"Binder with Letraset Pictograms" (disbound single work)
Notebook, "Major Small Sketchbooks Outlining 5 Worlds, etcetera"
Notebook, "Flags, etcetera (full color high quality drawings)"
Notebook, "Signs, Flags, etcetera"
Loose Notebook Pages
Notebook, "Major Gouaches, Signs, etcetera"
Notebook, "Dance, Music, Theater; Major Lists, Signs, Concepts, and Imaginary Universe"
Notebook, "Mary Boone Rubbings, Plans, Symbols, etcetera"
Notebook
Notebook, "Major Small Book, Charts, etcetera"
Notebook, "The City Plans Computer Project"
Notebook, "Dallas Project"
Notebook, "Solway 1 Plans"
Notebook, "Project Proposal and Planning"
Notebook, "Multiple Project Sketches"
Notebook
Notebook, "Project Outlines"
Notebook, "Charts, Production Notes"
Notebook, "Plans for a Large Project"
Notebook, "Newark Proposal and Various Exhibition Outlines"
Notebook, "Overall Projects"
Notebook, "Eindhoven Plans"
Notebook, "Signs, 3D Charts, etcetera"
Notebook, "Outlining Cosmology Texts"
Notebook, "Outlining Multiple Projects, Show Layouts, etcetera"
Notebook, "Overall Projects, Exhibition, Mapping, etcetera"
Notebook, "Buwog, Lille Sketchbook, Project Notes and Layouts"
Notebook, "Lille, Antwerp, Many Projects"
Notebook, "Ludwig Sketchbook, 'Learning from That Person's Work'"
Notebook, "'That Person,' Hanne Darboven Notes, Exhibition Planning"
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook, "Notating the Cosmology" (single work, book 1/4)
Notebook, "Notating the Cosmology" (single work, book 2/4)
Notebook, "Notating the Cosmology" (single work, book 3/4)
Notebook, "Notating the Cosmology" (single work, book 4/4)
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Notebook
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Car Album 1)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Acetone Transfers)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.1)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.2)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.3)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.5)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts Acetone Transfers (Black Book Series No.7, 'One of a Bunch')"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.9')"
Oversized Notebook, "Early Gouaches"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.12)"
Oversized Notebook, "High School/CalArts (Black Book Series No.13)
Oversized Notebook, "Early Conceptual Text-based Works
Oversized Notebook, "Major Book, Fictional Reality" (single work)
Oversized Notebook, "Major Generative Fictional Reality, Hypnosis, Stick Figures"
Oversized Notebook, "Major Overall Book, Conceptual Texts, Fictional Reality"
Oversized Notebook, "Only Charts"
Oversized Notebook, "Computer Project Planning"
Gallery and exhibition files date from 1985-2000s and encompass a wide variety of material documenting Mullican's extensive solo and group exhibition history throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Items include correspondence, sketches, notes, source material, checklists, shipping receipts, sales records, floorplans, installation photographs, catalog essays, reproduction requests, travel logistics, schedules, and printed material including announcements, catalogs, and press clippings. A bulk of the correspondence was conducted through faxes, and is with Mullican's studio, curators, gallerists, institutions, and art consulting agencies. A few digital files in the Mai 36 Galerie folder contain a digital image and two animations featured in an exhibition. File titles include exhibition titles and dates when known.
Oversized items housed in OV 23
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 24
Includes born digital records, see ER01
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 25
Project and commission files date from the 1980s-2000s and contain documentation of international public and corporate commissions, academic engagements, performances, publishing projects, print editions, illustrations, grants, residencies, and other project based artwork. Public and corporate commissions include artworks and installations for banks, airports, office complexes, university buildings, public transit stations, and other spaces. Documentation is particularly extensive for the commissions at Flushing Meadows, Corona Park; the Los Angeles Convention Center; and the Lyon Parc Auto. Types of materials found in the files include correspondence, sketches, mock-ups, notes, research, source material, proposals, contracts, invoices, maps, installation slides and photographs, travel and installation logistics, schedules, insurance documents, and printed material including corporate reports and brochures. A large sequence of assorted project and commission files toward the end of the series are unorganized and unsorted. Included here are many working drawings provided to fabricators working in stone and glass. Digital media items with unidentified contents occupy the last folder in the series.
Oversized items housed in OV 26
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 27
Oversized items housed in OV 28 and on rolls (RD) 29-30
Oversized items housed in OV 31
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 32
Oversized items housed in OVs 33-36 on roll (RD) 37
Oversized items housed in OV 38
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 32
Oversized items housed in OV 38
Oversized items housed in OV 39
Oversized items housed in OV 39
Oversized items housed in OV 40
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 41
Oversized items housed in OV 42 and on roll (RD) 43
Personal business records date from 1978-2000s and relate to bookkeeping and sales, donations, inventories, publication, copyright, supplies, invoicing, recommendations, residences, storage of works, and studio administration. Files relating to Mullican's residences and properties contain leases, financial reports, management reports, cooperative meeting minutes, by-laws, and documentation pertaining to constructions, repairs, and legal issues. Studio records relate to the operation of Mullican's studio and management of his projects. Items found here include correspondence between Mullican and his studio assistants, project schedules, notes, and calendars.
Printed material dates from 1971-2000s and includes announcements, posters, articles, reviews, exhibition catalogs, and periodicals related to Mullican's career. Research and source material provides insight into his artistic process and inspiration, and includes comics, photocopies from encyclopedias and text books, and other photocopied sources relating to urban planning, history, graphics, and textiles. A few other printed items include press releases, programs, and guides.
Oversized items housed on roll (RD) 44
One folder of photographs dates from the 1980s-1990s. Subjects include Mullican, his family, and installations of his work at various venues and exhibitions.