Walking into Peninsula gallery, an intimate space in the Two Bridges neighborhood, viewers are greeted with the energetic and punchy paintings in Johnny Mullen’s solo show- rehearsals in movement. Mullen has pinpointed his focus on layering paint, motion, and plays with both transparency and opacity in this new series. With the gallery itself being so intimate, you get a close and personal view of the works, a deeper look that proves very rewarding. Meandering from one painting to the next, each of a consistent size, you get to join mullen on his explorations within each piece. Expanding from his interest in color theory, Mullen has added an expanded investigation of layering and gesture within the pieces.
Gesture and motion are prevalent and at the forefront of each of these works. mullen uses varied brush sizes to create different sized marks that build pockets of both hyperactivity and stillness within the paintings. This counterpoint of motion and stillness within each piece reverberates throughout the layers of the paintings as a whole. By using smaller brushes to create the broad pockets of color and value, and by layering transparent colors using acrylic paint, mullen controls the details he places onto the canvas and how they may permeate through. By using a full range of motion, the strokes grow in all directions – as if they are a reverberation inside the colored edges, such as in Within My Thoughts, where mullen builds upon the stark white of the canvas with both a dark foundation and lighter forms on top of that to create a new space, new interactions.
With this body of work, mullen is exploring the possibility of painting. With intuitive choices made to build the space – both background and foreground, viewers are given an area that can be excavated and explored. You can follow mullen on the journey. The layers of each painting can be peeled back to explore some of the artist’s decisions within the studio. These pieces offer a study on luminosity, shape, form and line- all important foundations to painting. We see what colors blend well together, and which ones may vibrate apart. Mullen is inspired by early aspects of Abstract Expressionism and the CoBrA movement where artists work spontaneously and very physically alongside the canvas. A build up of these layers becomes an exploration- one not solely focused on color, but rooted in action and movement.
As shown in the image below of two works in conversation with each other side by side, transparency and the use of grey to dull over colors offer important pivot points in the creation of the work. mullen decided to obscure areas completely and to let other areas peek through the grey. By dulling portions of the painting, mullen tones down the color in that spot, allowing the eye to rest. Transparent layers create a sensation of depth by revealing the white of the canvas that stands behind it all. I really appreciated the use of grey to open up the negative space. It might be counterintuitive, adding a color over others, and allowing brighter colors to stand in for an absence. The selective grey pushes back immensely well. Leaving some of the white of the canvas untouched adds a luminosity to the work.
The movement and potential within the works have a frenetic sensation, one where you get lost in the frequencies and bounce around. Yet, despite all the buzz and parts that make up each piece, mullen pulls out one line of “frequency” at a time with which to create the structure in each composition. Many of these frequencies could be frustrations, anxieties, or urges that Mullen uses to utilize primary forms and shapes. His works force a focus on painting’s basic elements and their relationships to structure, language, and meaning.
The back room of the exhibition is no different. It embodies the title of the exhibition well – the Rehearsals of Movement. The works that are exhibited in the smaller back room, pictured below, allow each piece to communicate with each other. mullen’s actions on the surface; his marks, strokes, and erasures all meld together to create a new space. He channels all this potential energy into something driven by intuition rather than a set plan. He uses set conventions of painting to make these works, but like a composer creating a new harmony, he uses mark making and in the moment decisions to create a crescendo of his own.
johnny g mullen: Rehearsals of Movemen through Nov 1st, 2025 at Peninsula, 13 Monroe Street, NY, NY 10002, Wed – Sat, 12-6PM or by appointment @peninsulanyc
About the Writer: Taylor Bielecki lives in Gowanus, where her studio is, and works at Pratt Institute, where she earned her MFA, she also studied at Penn State, where she earned a BA in English and a BFA in Fine Arts. She finished as a finalist in the Kennedy Center’s VSA National Emerging Young Artist program for 2017; where she earned an award of Excellence. She has shown prints internationally in a print exchange in Australia and exhibitions in Dubai, India and the Glasgow School of Art. She has also shown paintings internationally in Gallery 24N, PhilaMOCA’s juried exhibitions in Philadelphia, Pa., Perry Lawson Fine Art in Nyack, NY, BWAC in Red Hook, and IW Galler in Brooklyn. Taylor works periodically for Two Coats of Paint, TUSSLE Magazine and has joined Art Spiel as a contributing writer.