INFO
Biography |
Jon Mulhern is an American painter, sculptor, and educator whose work creates abstract environments inspired by nature, memory, instinct, and the language of mapmaking. Through an intuitive and physically driven studio practice, he explores atmosphere, movement, and the emotional resonance of place. Rather than depicting the natural world literally, Mulhern distills its essence, transforming lived experience into immersive painted environments that invite contemplation and personal interpretation.
Raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., Mulhern developed an early appreciation for art through regular visits to the Smithsonian museums, where he was drawn to the work of J.M.W. Turner, Vincent van Gogh, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and the enduring traditions of the Old Masters. Equally influential was the visual intensity of Washington's street culture, establishing a dialogue between historical tradition and contemporary visual culture that continues to shape his work.
Mulhern received both his BFA and MFA/MAT in Painting and Education from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Following graduate school, he worked professionally as a painter, sculptor, and professor in Baltimore before relocating to New York in 2008. After establishing a studio in Brooklyn, he later moved to Long Island and, in 2022, settled in Sag Harbor, New York, where he lives and works.
An avid world traveler with a deep appreciation for global artistic traditions, Mulhern draws inspiration from the cultures, landscapes, and visual languages he encounters. His practice is informed by nature, cartography, Romanticism, postwar abstraction, Japanese ink painting, and a broad range of historical and contemporary artistic practices. Developed through an instinctive process he describes as "gut painting," his work embraces uncertainty, physical engagement, and the expressive qualities of paint itself. Through layered surfaces, expressive mark-making, calligraphic gestures, and tactile material processes, he constructs abstract environments that balance beauty with vulnerability, creating spaces where memory, atmosphere, and emotion converge.
Mulhern's work has been exhibited throughout the United States, including at the United Nations, and has been featured in exhibitions alongside Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and Elaine de Kooning, where he was among the youngest artists represented.
Alongside his studio practice, Mulhern is the Founding Director of the Ross School Art Academy and Chair of Visual Arts at Ross School. He has collaborated with leading institutions including the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), mentoring emerging artists and contributing to advanced studio education.
Grounded in the belief that painting is an experience rather than simply an image, Mulhern's practice invites viewers to slow down, engage deeply, and discover their own emotional connection to the work.
Artist Statement |
My practice explores the intersection of nature, memory, instinct, and the emotional language of place. Rather than depicting environments literally, I create atmospheric spaces that exist between abstraction and recognition. My paintings evoke landscapes, weather systems, geological forms, and organic structures while remaining rooted in the physical language of paint itself.
Through expressive mark-making, layered surfaces, and intuitive gestures, I construct abstract environments that explore movement, atmosphere, and the sublime. My work does not describe a specific location; instead, it captures the emotional residue of place, the memory of a landscape, the sensation of light, the energy of a storm, or the quiet tension found within the natural world. Fragments of water, land, stone, weather, and organic forms emerge within the surface, allowing viewers to discover their own interpretations within these imagined environments. Within each larger atmospheric composition, intimate moments of detail invite closer examination, revealing subtle shifts in texture, gesture, and material.
My paintings are created through a process of instinct, uncertainty, and discovery. I begin without a fixed composition or predetermined outcome, approaching the canvas as a living dialogue between myself, the material, and possibility. Each layer, gesture, and mark informs the next, allowing the painting to develop its own identity through the process of making. I describe this intuitive approach as “gut painting,” a practice guided by feeling, physicality, and the belief that a painting should feel discovered rather than constructed.
The studio serves as both a place of investigation and transformation. Influenced by the expressive power of Romanticism, the techniques of the Old Masters, postwar abstraction, contemporary painting, and the visual languages of mapping and exploration, my work exists in a continual dialogue between history and the present. I draw from observation, travel, memory, and the accumulated visual experiences of a changing world.
Color and surface are central to my practice. Through the exploration of color relationships, I create tension, harmony, and movement across the canvas. White and red often emerge as active forces within the work, generating moments of light, depth, and emotional intensity. Contrasts between delicate passages and raw physical gestures create a balance between restraint and expression, beauty and vulnerability.
Ultimately, my paintings seek to offer an experience rather than a representation. I invite viewers into atmospheric worlds where perspective shifts, gravity feels uncertain, and meaning remains open. Each work aims to exist as a living presence, an environment born through instinct, material, and the unpredictable dialogue between imagination and paint.
Quotes |
“I believe the artist’s responsibility is to remain curious. Experimentation keeps the work alive, pushing me beyond what I already understand and allowing each painting to become a discovery of something unexpected.”
“Color and line are the heartbeat of my paintings. I am fascinated by the relationships between colors, the way one mark can transform another, and how subtle shifts in tone can reshape the emotional landscape of a work. Through these relationships, I search for energy, balance, and moments of transcendence.”
“I paint to uncover what cannot be reproduced: the atmosphere of a moment, the emotion of a place, the memories that linger long after we have left, and the feeling in front of pigment. My work exists between image and experience, where color becomes a language for sensations, emotions, and memories that words cannot contain.”
“Painting is my way of understanding the world. It is where observation becomes memory, instinct becomes form, and the physical act of making becomes a dialogue between myself, the material, and something beyond myself. Every painting is a journey into the unknown, a search for what exists beneath the surface.”
“The studio is a place of discovery. I begin each painting with curiosity, allowing materials, color, and gesture to guide the process. The work reveals itself through patience, intuition, and a willingness to follow, lead, and respond. ”
- Jon Mulhern
Gallery Artist Statement |
Jon Mulhern’s practice explores the intersection of nature, memory, instinct, and the emotional language of place. Rather than depicting environments literally, Mulhern creates atmospheric spaces that exist between abstraction and recognition. His paintings evoke landscapes, weather systems, geological forms, and organic structures while remaining rooted in the physical language of paint itself.
Through expressive mark-making, layered surfaces, and intuitive gestures, Mulhern constructs abstract environments that explore movement, atmosphere, and the sublime. The work does not describe a specific location; instead, it captures the emotional residue of place, the memory of a landscape, the sensation of light, the energy of a storm, or the quiet tension found within the natural world. Fragments of water, land, stone, weather, and organic forms emerge within the surface, allowing viewers to discover their own interpretations within these imagined environments. Within each larger atmospheric composition, intimate moments of detail invite closer examination, revealing subtle shifts in texture, gesture, and material.
Mulhern’s paintings are created through a process of instinct, uncertainty, and discovery. Beginning without a fixed composition or predetermined outcome, he approaches the canvas as a living dialogue between artist, material, and possibility. Each layer, gesture, and mark informs the next, allowing the painting to develop its own identity through the process of making. Mulhern describes this intuitive approach as “gut painting,” a practice guided by feeling, physicality, and the belief that a painting should feel discovered rather than constructed.
The studio serves as both a place of investigation and transformation. Influenced by the expressive power of Romanticism, the techniques of the Old Masters, postwar abstraction, contemporary painting, and the visual languages of mapping and exploration, Mulhern’s work exists in a continual dialogue between history and the present. His paintings draw from observation, travel, memory, and the accumulated visual experiences of a changing world.
Color and surface are central to Mulhern’s practice. Through the exploration of color relationships, he creates tension, harmony, and movement across the canvas. White and red often emerge as active forces within the work, generating moments of light, depth, and emotional intensity. Contrasts between delicate passages and raw physical gestures create a balance between restraint and expression, beauty and vulnerability.
Ultimately, Mulhern’s paintings seek to offer an experience rather than a representation. They invite viewers into atmospheric worlds where perspective shifts, gravity feels uncertain, and meaning remains open. Each work aims to exist as a living presence, an environment born through instinct, material, and the unpredictable dialogue between imagination and paint.