Lucy Pullen (born 1971) is a Canadian artist based in New York. She is best known for crossover projects, sculpture and drawing.

Early life and education

Pullen was born to Gillian Lovitt (née Wickwire) and Hugh Francis Haswell Pullen in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and raised in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. In 1994 she received a bachelor's degree in studio art from the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The uni ...

in Halifax. In 2001 she received a Master of Fine Art from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia. From 2002 to 2013 Pullen was an assistant professor of visual art at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

in British Columbia Canada, tenured in 2007.

Work

In 2018, Pullen participated in the CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area), a biannual, free public exhibition of contemporary art in the cities and surrounding areas of Kitchener,

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. For CAFKA.18, Pullen produced a mural, titled ''Recognize Everyone'', that covers the elevator shaft and the wraparound fire escape on the building of 27 Gaukel Street in Kitchener. The polychromatic star mural work is an immersive art work, that visitors can walk into as they climb the stairs of the building. In her series ''Interval for Halifax'' (2013), Pullen wrapped playground swings in

Scotchlite Retroreflective sheeting is flexible retroreflective material primarily used to increase the nighttime conspicuity of traffic signs, high-visibility clothing, and other items so they are safely and effectively visible in the light of an approach ...

tape. Visitors interact with the work by playing on the swings. The artist suggests photographing the swings in action, using flash, in order to experience the work fully. "The swing is rappedin reflective material, in a certain moment it looks like a line of light, as if someone is riding a bolt of lightning."

Style

Her work has a playfulness and directness that opens it up to the viewer. It can be critically linked to conceptualism, and to a NSCAD trend to use unusual materials to make metaphysical points, but it is not necessary to know a secret art language to understand or enjoy it. Her work is marked by conceptual ambition, technical daring, and antic humor. Pullen's work is built on paradox. While her work varies dramatically in its final form, an analytical orientation can be isolated as a unifying thread throughout her recent work. Product and invention never seem to be the point. Discovery, arising from the process of creation and destruction, does. Preoccupied with changing the points of reference that box art in as art, she calls attention to the artistic potential within everyday experience.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullen, Lucy Living people 21st-century Canadian women artists Temple University Tyler School of Art alumni NSCAD University alumni Canadian sculptors Artists from Montreal 1971 births