Karl P Mullen

BERNEY'S Gallery is in Kilcullen and is entered via a pub, but it is a neat space nonetheless and might prove in time a useful addition to Irish out of town (i.e. out of Dublin) galleries.

Karl P. Mullen, a self taught artist, has lived and worked in America for most of the past decade and apparently expresses himself in a variety of media. This exhibition, however, features paintings and drawings only, the majority in mixed media on paper.

At first glance, Mullen has a good deal in common with the New Expressionists of the 1980s, and there is more than an occasional similarity to Michael Mulcahy, in particular. It is, obviously, more a matter of affinity than of any direct or indirect influence. That is to say, he uses a rather lurid, aggressive palette and the imagery is in keeping, with much use of frontal, staring, rather mask like heads of the kind which Paladino and the other Italians have made almost common property.

The style itself is raw, direct and sometimes unsubtle, but there is plenty of "guts" and a saving injection of Pop imagery and humour. Plainly, this young painter does not take himself or his message over seriously underneath the outwardly "hot" manner there is a balancing "cool" streak. The titles, which mix together Pop references, mythology and personal fantasy, are in themselves proof of that.