Dirigo

James Mullen

June 22 - August 12, 2023

About the Show

Dirigo: Latin for "I lead." The Maine state motto. As the easternmost point in the United States, the sun first rises over Maine, leading the nation into each new day. This geographical happenstance, however, is not the sole basis for the state's motto. With its natural beauty and almost preternatural quality of light, Maine has long been a beacon for the country's leading artists. Homer, Hopper, Kent, Hartley, Wyeth... The list of American art luminaries who have painted the Maine landscape is impressive and ever-growing.

For this reason, Dirigo is the perfect title for this exhibition of Maine landscape paintings by a master of the subject, James Mullen, Professor of Art at Bowdoin College. Mullen captures the timeless beauty of some of Maine’s most iconic scenes - Acadia, Katahdin, Prouts Neck - that have made Maine a leading force in American art history and kept it a buzzing locus of creative energy. Mullen's paintings are simply stunning, befitting their subject matter.

My work is centered on painting the landscape, often based on photographs and sketches I have made on site. This is a continuation of a body of work that I have been building over the last three decades dealing with the depictions of the environment.

The state of Maine has been the cornerstone of this project during this time. I first began visiting it as a painting destination in the mid-1980s when I lived in Portsmouth, NH. Since moving here in 1999 to teach at Bowdoin, I have explored much of the state, with a special affection for the coastal regions from Kittery through the Schoodic peninsula. In all seasons, in all weather, it is a landscape that is constantly revealing itself in new ways, and is a source of near limitless inspiration.

- James Mullen