Gentry Mullen

Balancing Act

December 5 - January 30, 2025

Front Gallery LVAC

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I create paintings that merge bold surface design with implied narratives. These sculptural forms play with light, shadow, and negative space. Recurring characters—rabbits, foxes, crows, snakes, and the figure of Pinocchio—suggest familiar stories but remain open to personal interpretation. I strive to balance whimsy and depth, offering playful, mischievous vignettes that leave room for viewers to imagine their own stories.

Artist Statement: 

I think the Exhibition Statement and Artist Statement are essentially the same thing, at least at this point in my career.

Artist Bio: 

Gentry Mullen is a Kansas City–based artist and graphic designer with a career spanning nearly four decades. He refined his aesthetic and developed the craft of visual storytelling at The Kansas City Star, where he produced thousands of graphics, illustrations, and page layouts each year. 

 

A graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, Mullen now paints in his home studio, where his background in design informs his exploration of form, pattern, and narrative suggestion. His work often features a cast of recurring animal and figurative motifs—part fable, part folklore—through which he playfully examines truth, transformation, and imagination.