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acting on artMull’s AdventuresMartin Mull keeps visual art his true priority By Elliot V. KotekDespite more than a youthful dalliance as a pole-vaulter and aHollywood career that provided a “cushion” that has enabled himto paint on his own terms, Martin Mull has tread a true artist’s tracksince the age of three.Inspired by the Saturday Evening Post as well as the Life and Look magazineshe leafed through as a child in his grandmother’s attic in Northern Ohio, Mullcreates collages out of images from as many as ten different sources, then paintsthe whole thing from scratch with devilishly demure detail—a style which Mullidentifies, through an appropriate smirk, as “Saturday Evening Post-modern.”“Basically, I’m a figurative painter, a representational painter,” he divulges, “Iwould not say that I’m a photo-realist because I’m not—photorealism goes toa whole other (and more compulsive) place. My stuff might give the effect ofphotography without being photorealistic. It’s recollective.”Mull at home in his above-garage studio. Photo by Steven Barston.Recently showing at the University Art Gallery at San Diego State University,the Adventures in a Temperate Climate retrospective (which began at the Las VegasArt Museum) recalled forty-two pieces of suburban culture-scapes that Mull haslulled into two-dimensional captivity over the past twenty-plus years.The retrospective is a time for introspection for the Cleveland Browns fan.“It’s great seeing them again, it’s like a town meeting, y’know, surrounded by allthese things that I grew up with that I’d never seen in the same room…I’d forgottenabout certain parts of some paintings, some happy accidents,” says Mull.“There was a great quote—from Matisse I believe—that people make art in spiteof themselves. It couldn’t be more true.”Martin Mull, Art Appreciation, 2000. Oil on Linen. Image courtesy the artist.Although a couple of humorous pieces evidence Mull’s dabbling with acrylicsand canvas in the 80s, the exhibition is constituted almost entirely by oils on linen.76 2006 Issue 4