PRESS RELEASE
LOS ANGELES | MAY 2023
The artworks acknowledge responses to the comment, "it's not controversial; you're just imagining a white audience." Mullen explores shoving whiteness to the peripheral of her black thought and black imagination and argues the intrinsic shackling of social and cultural identities projected and internalized to conjure new ways of thinking–
critically.
SUNI MULLEN: I AM THE ONE, TODAY.
8 May - 14 May, 2023
8 May - 14 May, 2023
Otis College of Art and Design is opening the annual senior exhibition [ ] including works by the American artist SUNI MULLEN. Over three years in thought and planning, the exhibition will include a selected culmination of MULLEN’s art produced to date while at Otis. All of MULLEN’s work deals with advocating for critical thinking as a vessel towards self-determination and the affirmation of the black woman’s agency as a signifier for purpose, meaning, and the invitation to imagine.
SUNI MULLEN to a great degree is one of the most audacious artists working today. Through close to a decade, she has investigated language, surreal landscapes in video editing, and diaristic paintings, scaling investments in the mediums that best articulate her ideas. Despite pulling from global perspectives, she is driven to develop imaginative landscapes often of rebellion, care, vengeance, and empathy for Black Americans and niggas like. Embracing “the spectrum of dissonance in pursuit of [her] own curiosity” MULLEN is invested in capturing contemporary languages in the mediums they present themselves; somatically, socially culturally, economically, satirically, ironically- negotiating those flexibilities and highlighting temporal drags that are culturally accepted colloquially.
SUNI MULLEN to a great degree is one of the most audacious artists working today. Through close to a decade, she has investigated language, surreal landscapes in video editing, and diaristic paintings, scaling investments in the mediums that best articulate her ideas. Despite pulling from global perspectives, she is driven to develop imaginative landscapes often of rebellion, care, vengeance, and empathy for Black Americans and niggas like. Embracing “the spectrum of dissonance in pursuit of [her] own curiosity” MULLEN is invested in capturing contemporary languages in the mediums they present themselves; somatically, socially culturally, economically, satirically, ironically- negotiating those flexibilities and highlighting temporal drags that are culturally accepted colloquially.
LANGUAGE AND HUMOR
The history of American slavery with its perpetuation into contemporary times is a driving force for the artist. In her work, both linguistically and conceptually the artist applies humor in a perspective that rests in arming themselves with the ability to fight back both physically and psychologically. Her new-found landscape is without repercussions liberating herself from arrestment in the practical and very real-world of America. Language is manipulated and used boldly and audaciously as it naturally expresses itself in intimate settings now broadcasted in sterile spaces exercising somatic, cultural, and linguistic powers. In her latest essay, Properly, American: The Genius Effect and “The Posture of Openness” | Black, Female, and Academic– An Earthquake in Whiteness, she writes, “whiteness is not the plot over here”. Likening herself to a comedian, Mullen explores all the ways in which she is able to maximize her agency in critically expressing the importance of navigating the apex of discussions back in her court leaning into radical acceptance of difference without the need for permission.
The history of American slavery with its perpetuation into contemporary times is a driving force for the artist. In her work, both linguistically and conceptually the artist applies humor in a perspective that rests in arming themselves with the ability to fight back both physically and psychologically. Her new-found landscape is without repercussions liberating herself from arrestment in the practical and very real-world of America. Language is manipulated and used boldly and audaciously as it naturally expresses itself in intimate settings now broadcasted in sterile spaces exercising somatic, cultural, and linguistic powers. In her latest essay, Properly, American: The Genius Effect and “The Posture of Openness” | Black, Female, and Academic– An Earthquake in Whiteness, she writes, “whiteness is not the plot over here”. Likening herself to a comedian, Mullen explores all the ways in which she is able to maximize her agency in critically expressing the importance of navigating the apex of discussions back in her court leaning into radical acceptance of difference without the need for permission.
COLLECTING AND REMIXING
INTRODUCING KEY WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION
ABOUT SUNI MULLEN
As a commitment to consistently think critically, my practice as a painter, writer, thinker, and digital amplifier articulates my curiosity to create works that encapsulate rebellion, sarcasm, and seriousness through visual and linguistic explorations.
My interests rest in exploring conceptual ideas related to the contemporary complex articulations of blackness. I permit myself to borrow liberally to form and think through unstable ideas [to contest and respond]. My studies lean on capturing modern languages, negotiating flexibilities in language, and highlighting temporal drags that are culturally accepted colloquially.
I received the Duff Family Scholarship, Otis Presidential Scholarship, and MAF LA Young Creatives Grant. In 2019, I curated my first solo exhibition at Stay Gallery in Downey, Ca. I then exhibited twice with Innerspace Gallery in Downtown LA. My work is a part of private collections in Boston, Massachusetts, New York, New York, and Dallas, Texas. In November 2019, Post & Beam invited me to exhibit six unique works to represent a cultural perspective of Los Angeles. In 2021, I showcased works with SoLA Contemporary Art Museum for their virtual pandemic fundraiser. I have participated in over 25 exhibitions in the past five years. My short film, "This New Mix Called, ", "" premiered at Thuh Film Festival's first annual film festival in Long Beach, CA. Recently, my work has appeared on Bel-Air, Season 1, Episode 6, and in the film Roux's Blues.
My writing has appeared on the cover of CR Fashion Book for Telfar and multiple blog posts for BLAK KANVAS Studio. I am the author of Residency Documents, a series of downloadable PDFs for artists to canon themselves from a stronger foundation.
I completed a year as a mentor at Otis College of Art and Design, lending my services to curating exhibitions and allocating time to answer questions about the university experience.
Currently, I write, edit, and reformat biographies and CVs for national and international artists as an intern between OCHI and Gavlak Gallery. My services also extend to extensive research.
Continuing through the Spring, I will work with the Student Learning Center as a Writing Tutor, editing statements, biographies, essays, and resumes until graduation (Spring 23). I will act as the Fine Arts Student Curator until graduation to strengthen her ability to form and think through ideas.
As a commitment to consistently think critically, my practice as a painter, writer, thinker, and digital amplifier articulates my curiosity to create works that encapsulate rebellion, sarcasm, and seriousness through visual and linguistic explorations.
My interests rest in exploring conceptual ideas related to the contemporary complex articulations of blackness. I permit myself to borrow liberally to form and think through unstable ideas [to contest and respond]. My studies lean on capturing modern languages, negotiating flexibilities in language, and highlighting temporal drags that are culturally accepted colloquially.
I received the Duff Family Scholarship, Otis Presidential Scholarship, and MAF LA Young Creatives Grant. In 2019, I curated my first solo exhibition at Stay Gallery in Downey, Ca. I then exhibited twice with Innerspace Gallery in Downtown LA. My work is a part of private collections in Boston, Massachusetts, New York, New York, and Dallas, Texas. In November 2019, Post & Beam invited me to exhibit six unique works to represent a cultural perspective of Los Angeles. In 2021, I showcased works with SoLA Contemporary Art Museum for their virtual pandemic fundraiser. I have participated in over 25 exhibitions in the past five years. My short film, "This New Mix Called, ", "" premiered at Thuh Film Festival's first annual film festival in Long Beach, CA. Recently, my work has appeared on Bel-Air, Season 1, Episode 6, and in the film Roux's Blues.
My writing has appeared on the cover of CR Fashion Book for Telfar and multiple blog posts for BLAK KANVAS Studio. I am the author of Residency Documents, a series of downloadable PDFs for artists to canon themselves from a stronger foundation.
I completed a year as a mentor at Otis College of Art and Design, lending my services to curating exhibitions and allocating time to answer questions about the university experience.
Currently, I write, edit, and reformat biographies and CVs for national and international artists as an intern between OCHI and Gavlak Gallery. My services also extend to extensive research.
Continuing through the Spring, I will work with the Student Learning Center as a Writing Tutor, editing statements, biographies, essays, and resumes until graduation (Spring 23). I will act as the Fine Arts Student Curator until graduation to strengthen her ability to form and think through ideas.