Villa Magdalena is thrilled to announce Lucy Mullican: Fragments, the gallery’s sixth exhibition, opening on September 23. On view will be a group of new life-size watercolor paintings, slate works, and a series of smaller format watercolor paintings produced in San Sebastian as part of a previous residency leading up to the exhibition. This is the New York-based artist’s first solo presentation in Spain and her second solo show overall.

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From the outside to the inside. A journey from the island to what lies beneath it. In the large panels we glean a map of an imaginary world which is ultimately a self-portrait. A spiritual transformation seen through a departure from painting waterfalls, islands, rivers into an inward direction of the mind and the organs. Like a comic strip, they inform each other. In Drowning Island, Light Coming through Water, Untitled and Untitled fragile layers and pulsating lines create translucent surfaces. As the island is a surrogate for the body, what follows is our experience as we approach and enter this internal space. There are pockets, holes, and doors that allow one to travel back and forth through these pictures. The natural pigments of the watercolor and the wood receivers have become one, showing the artist’s innate ability to understand her medium and employ a technical fluidity. Lucy’s penetrating vision goes beyond the surface to reveal what we cannot see and bring us closer to what we feel. Transient moments flooded with light embody Mullican’s representation of spirit.

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In the smaller panels fragments of the body morph into landscapes. Produced in San Sebastian, these works are increasingly aware of the natural surroundings of the city. Mullican’s psyche has settled into the local environment, allowing her to create variations of an anthropomorphic topography. Atmospheric compositions grounded by a horizon line set a stage where gravity is always met by corporeal elements. There is a constant duality between the natural weight of the physical world and the ascension of the soul which brings us closer to an ethereal realm.