Martin Mull (1943-2014) was a talented American artist, actor, musician, and painter. He left a considerable mark on the US creative industry, with many of his works being an integral part of the American cultural legacy. Though Mull was talented in many spheres, his life’s passion was undoubtedly painting. Here is a guide to Martin Mull’s creative profile and most notable works.
Comedic roles brought Mull nationwide fame in the 1970s, as the American soap opera genre was booming. His role as Garth Gimble in the parodic soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman was one of the most successful of those times. The actor later took part in the shooting of Fernwood 2 Night and America 2 Night, two other successful TV projects. Later roles that kept Mull at the top of American TV celebrities include Colonel Mustard in Clue (1985), Willard Kraft in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Gene Parmesan in Arrested Development.
While Martin Mull’s work as a painter was less publicized during his acting career, at present, his painting legacy is gaining more attention from art collectors. Mull’s paintings represent a unique fusion of pop art and photorealism, with many of his images of post-war America being created with a nostalgic vibe.
During his lifetime, Martin Mull shared that the main sources of his painting inspiration included popular lifestyle magazines, advertisements, and images from his childhood memories. The artist dedicated many of his works to the creative critique of the American Dream of the 1950s – an illusion with many contradictions of those times.
Mull widely experimented with color and contrast in his paintings. One of his favorite techniques was monochromatic grisaille, with various shades of gray employed to resemble the style of old-fashioned black-and-white photography. He also combined muted pastel color shades with unexpected color bursts, thus creating visual tension and adding symbolism to his canvases.
Another popular style recurring in Martin Mull’s portfolio was magical realism; the artist liked to put real figures into mythic, dreamlike spaces and create a psychic effect for the painting. This area of his painting style developed under the influence of Henri Matisse, whose experiments with objects’ liminality and physical overlapping laid the basis for a deeper exploration of memory and art media by many artists.
At present, Martin Mull’s works are held in many public collections, including those of the Whitney Museum and MoMA. Private collectors, such as Steve Martin and Norman Lear, have also acquired Mull’s works for their personal collections.
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