About me
I trained at Glasgow School of Art from 68-72 and worked in Education for many years,before retirement enabled me to spend more time on my work. This has developed slowly from figurative to almost wholly abstract work, always using found materials with as little intervention or contrivance as possible.
Over the years I have amassed a huge collection of weathered painted wood, which is my palette, the assemblages being merely a response to the colours and shapes which chance has provided. The intention is that the finished pieces look as if they were meant to be as they are, and fit comfortably together...
Metal, preferably rusty, is the other material which I use for mainly sculptural pieces. Sometimes, they remain virtually as found. Some are welded as unobtrusively as possible. But all rely on the character and the history of the object, with little finishing or polish...
Exhibitions have been infrequent as my house is effectively my gallery, and I work on many pieces over periods of years. But the major Shows were in Edinburgh at the Talbot Rice Arts Centre and at Pallant House in Chichester. The most recent was an Open House in Oct 2016.
I also make some very individual pieces of furniture using recycled wood,many of these still in use while acquiring more character and age! I will take on commissions on the understanding that they may take some time, but would welcome a challenge. Images on request.
John Mulligan
