Elaine Mullings

Born:

1955

Residence:

Saint Leonards, United Kingdom

Nationality:

British

Trust:

APT Global One

FOLLOW THIS ARTIST

CONNECT TO CONCIERGE

Circles and spheres are recurring forms in Elaine Mullings’ three-dimensional work and installations. Their formal nature reflects her interest in the shifting value of ‘things’. Assembling and manipulating familiar objects and materials, Mullings works to look beyond simple metaphor and sentiment to question perceptions of objects and materials that linger in the background of our everyday. Working with anything from tissue paper and plastic bags to copper pipe and broken glass – ‘things’ that hover there like a landscape of low level noise - she interrogates the emotions and sensations that seemingly low value material can provoke. The aim is to challenge our understanding of the familiar and our responses to the 'strange'.

While drawing and printmaking provide starting points, her practice is underpinned by an interest in labour, the accrual of time and material, pattern and repetition. To create sculptural pieces and installations, Mullings often uses labour intensive, repetitive processes. The approach is also echoed in her use of multiples and fragmentation which she employs as a way of scratching at the cosy surface of the everyday. For Mullings, evidence of the rhythm of labour and time sustained in the making is embedded in the work to retain honest connections between the material, process and form itself.

Mullings’ practice references the language of Arte Povera, Minimalism and Pop; she cites the work of artists like Giuseppe Penone, El Anatsui, Leonardo Drew, Kara Walker and Ann Hamilton as influences.

Mullings’ fascination with the symbol of the circle is also evident in her printmaking. This primary form is reflected in the large, shiny discs of copper, silver and gold that feature in her screen prints. An arts residency in China has had a lasting impact on her use of colour and her fascination with luminous and iridescent pigments.

Elaine Mullings was born in England in 1955 and lives and works in London, England. Education 1988-89 University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. 1985-90 BA (Hons) Italian Studies & Political Science, University of Lancaster, 2005-06 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design - Camberwell College of Art, London. 2006-09 BA (Hons) Drawing - Camberwell College of Art, London. 2009-11 MFA Sculpture - Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London Commissions 2010 Bloombury Festival, Russell Square, London. 2012/13 Conran+Partners, D&D London, Hoxton Art Projects for the Duke, Restaurant, Istanbul, Turkey. 2013/14 Conran+Partners, Barratt Homes and LCP for The Courthouse, Westminster, London Awards 2010 The Red Mansion Foundation Art Prize, 2009-11Arts and Humanities Research Council Postgraduate Award.

ARTWORKS

Elaine Mullings

Touched