Matt Mullican "Matt Mullican"

22.02–31.03.1991
de Appel, Prinseneiland 7, Amsterdam

Untitled, 1989-1990 I
© Cary Markerink, Amsterdam

Untitled, 1989-1990 II
© Cary Markerink, Amsterdam

‘I’m not an architect or a town planner, although I design urban maps and imaginary cities within what I call my 'cosmology'. What I am trying to do is to unravel my own thought processes and those of others.’ For over 15 years, Matt Mullican has been fascinated by the signs he encounters on flags, packaging, in company logos and pictograms. This symbolic representation of reality is his subject matter, in the same way as someone else might sketch a landscape or a figure, and moreover Mullican refers to himself as a 'realist'. By designing his own complex system of symbols, which he executes in primary colours in a wide variety of media, Mullican refers to the parallel world of 'images of representation'. All distinct categories are ordered in a system that extends from the 'elements' which correspond to meaningless substance, to the more immaterial aspects, the 'subjective', in which meaning can exist independently of matter. When translated into Mullican's cosmology, the areas become zones of a city which is a three what otherwise might be dimensional version of a diagram or chart. Mullican showed The City Project in De Appel in conjunction with a retrospective exhibition of his work in Rijksmuseum KrölIer-Müller in Otterlo. The City Project consisted of twelve lightboxes and a laser disc showing a trip through an imaginary city. This maquette of a mental image was made possible by the advanced computer techniques of Optomystic Studios in Los Angeles. The project had been shown previously in the Projects Room of the MOMA in New Vork, in the Magasin in Grenoble and at Portikus in Frankfurt. Because it concerned a project-in-development, new works were regularly generated out of what already existed. Small three-dimensional objects made of plastic, also designed with the aid of computer techniques, had been added to the project in De Appel.’ (Invitation text by Saskia Bos) Catalogue: Matt Mullican. The City Project, 1991. Text: Let Geerling. Dutch & English. 18 postcards: f.c., 11 x 15.5 cm in portfolio. Design: Irma Boom. SOLD OUT