TOBY MULLIGAN | ARTIST

AWARDWINNING WORK EXPRESSES A DEEP-SEATED DRIVE FOR EXPLORATION, MEANING AND HUMAN CONNECTION.

Unmistakable in style, Toby Mulligan’s distinctive contemporary originals have won him critical and public acclaim, asserting his place as a major force in British contemporary art.

When beginning work on a new piece, Mulligan does not prepare with sketches or planning, but simply starts to paint or draw This spontaneous style results in each work being intuitive, spirited and extraordinary. His mantra both as an artist and as a person is to be ‘essentially present’, being wholly receptive to the world within and without

The challenge as he sees it is to be free, clear and “as unfettered and unthinking as the day we were born Always open, always amazed”

Mulligan works in a variety of media including charcoal on paper and inks He is deeply engaged with the physical creative process so often grinds his own pigments and has been known to experiment with varnishes, wax, medieval paint recipes and rolls of wallpaper His dynamic and expressive paintings can be found in collections ranging from Mick Jagger’s French chateau to the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, and his portfolio of portraits includes a personal commission from Roger Federer and a BP Portrait Award selection

We've long admired the work of critically acclaimed artist Toby Mulligan, who is known for his exceptionally unique style and ambidextrous technique.

KATY COWAN, CREATIVE BOWAN

Mulligan's artistic method is entirely individual –he begins to paint or draw spontaneously without any preparatory sketching, using both hands and both sides of his brain, rational and intuitive This dialogue between his hands and two sides of his brain results in an emotional connection, an inspired process that works faster than the speed of distracting thought

Dans Les Toiles

For me, plain description isn’t exciting enough. It’s passive, inert, has little energy. My obsession lies within the discourse. Debate. Counter debate. Text against subtext, explored through my art but hopefully without judgement. The only fact, I believe, is that very little is absolute black and white, literally or figuratively. Life and ‘meaning’ is shade and nuance; joy, uncertainty, tragedy, hope, lust, commitment, indifference, love and mystery.

- TOBY MULLIGAN

HERE AND THERE

ROOM X3 - TOBY MULLIGAN’S DEBUT NFT SERIES

Conceptually and in execution, ‘ROOM X3’ is about a convergence of creative formats and technologies. Physical installation, with some familiar Mulligan motifs, then captured as 1minute AV expressions, for the ultimate purpose of exploring how fine art and multi-media can embrace the NFT medium.

Toby Mulligan’s debut NFT collection, ‘ROOM X3’, serves as a conversation in a wordless, universal language, unconcluded, open-ended. Essentially, it explores duality, the nature of connecting and not connecting. Masculinity, femininity. Our physical world. Our digital world. How we strive and succeed in connecting with each; how we struggle and fail to connect. The worlds within worlds, within a room. As Mulligan puts it best of all, “A multicellular, atomized, comic cocktail of connections and disconnections – these are the foundations on what life is to me and how, without judgement, we all have to deal with it.”

Toby Mulligan is currently represented by Clarendon Fine Art, and makes himself available for private commissions and brand ambassadorships.

Toby has made a number of films painting portraits for art brands Winsor & Newton, Liquitex and Cass Art, and his unique ambidextrous style has featured in multiple broadcast and print media.