jeff pullen
Short Biography and Statement
Jeff Pullen was born in New York City 1948 and is where he has spent his entire career living and working. Studying for his BFA and MFA in Painting at Pratt Institute Pullen was fortunate to work under artists Ernest Briggs, Edward Dugmore and George McNeil. He began exhibiting almost immediately after graduation, signing his first gallery contract in 1977 with the Neill Gallery in Soho, where he spent four years. In the succeeding forty years Pullen worked with many galleries throughout the country and abroad highlighted by a 20+ year representation with Adamar Fine Arts, in Miami. Pullen has enjoyed over fifty solo exhibits and numerous group shows, his work represented internationally in many private collections, as well as several public institutions. Influences and inspiration for artists can come from any and everywhere. As they work over the years these influences become reflected in their expressions, sometimes subliminally, other times purposefully. If an artist works long enough he may be fortunate as I was to see his artwork come full circle. My early paintings were heavily influenced by the teachings of Abstract Expressionism. I painted from within, responding to surface manipulation with the use of collage elements such as burnt fabric, aquarium stones, straw and sea shells. Over the years the imagery became less abstract and surfaces more constructed, painting my imagery onto surfaces of wood, brick, plexi-glass, and louver doors as my works became a pictorial/sculptural continuum addressing the shifting of the picture plane. In that process while rendering small areas of reflections, faded walls and advertisements, torn billboards and various light and dark areas I began to see these segments could possibly stand on their own as an expression which led to my current series of abstract work on canvas beginning in 2017.
jpullen48@gmail.com