Emily Mullin on creating ceramic sculptures with her husband
Teaming up with her husband for a new show ‘Get a Room’, ceramic artist and sculptor Emily Mullin celebrates collage, collaboration and the beauty of imperfection

While many couples would countersign to how the pandemic has tested the limits of their relationship, the Brooklyn-based ceramic artist and sculptor Emily Mullin instead chose to work with her husband, Tony Mullin, to produce her latest body of work, on view until 8 May at Jack Hanley Gallery in Manhattan. Entitled ‘Get a Room’, Mullin’s second solo exhibition at the space blurs the lines between sculpture, painting and collage with Mullin not only creating the vessels on display, but also the wall-bound reliefs and free-standing sculptural displays that frame each piece.
‘The show title is a cheeky nod to the romance of [the collaborative] process [with my husband]. We share a studio and plagiarise each other's palettes and forms constantly – is that collaborating? I don't know,’ Mullin jokes. ‘We spent so much time looking at images from places we have travelled, pieces from art collections we love, talking about architectural spaces- be that gallery spaces or domestic ones. These works let us imagine things we would want to live within a dream house we don't own. "Get a Room" also speaks to how one displays art, and how one lives with art.’
Portrait of Emily Mullin in the New York studio she shares with her husband, Tony. Below: Dripping, 2021. © Emily Mullin Courtesy the artist and Jack Hanley Gallery.
Inspired by the exhibition designs of the Italian architect Franco Albini and curator Caterina Marcenaro from the 1950s, whose emphasis on lightness and atmosphere redefined how to frame works in architectural spaces, Mullin’s intentionally two-dimensional displays – large scale CNC folded tables and plinths – are based on small, hand-cut paper maquettes which she and her husband composed together.
I love collage, Matisse and things that are less than perfect
‘The sculptural steel displays are fabricated using industrial processes which are generally so exacting. It's been fun to throw a spanner in the works and deliberately replicate rough, hand-cut, folded paper shapes using steel and a CNC press,’ she explains. ‘I build the vessels, similarly by taking flat slabs of clay and cutting out shapes and joining various pieces together. The push and pull on pictorial space in paintings when areas get flattened out is something I like to think about. I'm also interested in what happens when someone takes a photo of these dimensional works, and how everything transitions back to a 2D plane. I love collage, Matisse and things that are less than perfect.’
RELATED STORY
Installation view of ’Get a Room’ by at Jack Hanley Gallery in Manhattan. Below: Spring in Sardinia I (detail), 2021. © Emily and Tony Mullin. Courtesy the artist and Jack Hanley Gallery.
Retaining that paper cut-out quality on purpose, the displays add tongue-in-cheek humour to Mullin’s decorative, sculptural ceramic vessels, which are typically inspired by ‘costuming and embellishment – Grace Jones’ wardrobe, Sonia Delaunay’s stage costumes, Edo period Kimonos, Erte fashion illustrations, West Indian carnival costumes, pre-Columbian jewellery, Sardinian ceramics from the ‘50s... I could go on and on,’ she says. ‘I like to keep the surface of the vessels connected to motifs from abstract painting- whether that's with the washy wild effects of a raku-fired glaze, or through repeated mark-making and patternation.’
Emphasised by a colour palette that draws from Mullin’s childhood growing up in Los Angeles in the ‘90s, the show’s innate vibrancy is further enhanced by fresh floral arrangements that fill each vessel to quite literally breathe life into the display.
‘Theatricality and staging are important to me,’ she concludes. ’I like to think about the construction of images, framing devices, and the language of worship and desire. I've always thought of the works as altars that uplift the vessels and the floral elements that adorn them. There are all sorts of art historical and visual references in there, but fundamentally these pieces are a celebration of handmade objects and the natural world.’
Lace Revivalism (detail), 2021. © Emily Mullin. Courtesy the artist and Jack Hanley Gallery. Below: Installation view of ’Get a Room
INFORMATION
Emily Mullin: ’Get a Room’, until 8 May 2021, Jack Hanley Gallery. jackhanley.com
ADDRESS
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
327 Broome St
NY 10002
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Inside BIG and Nokken’s new sustainable cabin – luxury off-grid camping
The ‘Softshell’ by Bjarke Ingels Group and cabin expert Nokken is a modular, lightweight ‘tent alternative’ for nights amid nature without compromising on comfort
-
Ramzi Mallat’s London Design Festival installation is a bittersweet ode to Beirut
Created as a memorial to the 2020 Beirut Port Blast, Mallat's ‘Not Your Martyr’ installation at the V&A (until 19 October 2025) is made of 260 colourful glass ma’amouls
-
Bocci and Anna Carnick join forces on a showcase of evocative design practices in Berlin
'Crafting Community' is on view at Berlin's Wilhelm Hallen until 14 September 2025
-
Stephen Prina borrows from pop, classical and modern music: now MoMA pays tribute to his performance work
‘Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise’ recalls the artist, musician, and composer’s performances, and is presented throughout MoMA. Prina tells us more
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
With the return of back-to-school, it's back to business for the Wallpaper* team, who’ve been making the rounds at fashion pop-ups and pavilion launches. Elsewhere, we’ve been indulging in new literature and old restaurants, and taking in a farewell exhibition at a landmark gallery...
-
Curtains up, Kid Harpoon rethinks the sound of Broadway production ‘Art’
He’s crafted hits with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; now songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) tells us about composing the music for the new, all-star Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Here in the UK, summer seems to be fading fast. Moody skies and showers called for early-autumn rituals for the Wallpaper* team: retreating into the depths of the Tate Modern, slipping into shadowy cocktail bars, and curling up with a good book
-
Richard Prince recontextualises archival advertisements in Texas
The artist unites his ‘Posters’ – based on ads for everything from cat pictures to nudes – at Hetzler, Marfa
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
Another week, another flurry of events, opening and excursions showcasing the best of culture and entertainment at home and abroad. Catch our editors at Scandi festivals, iconic jazz clubs, and running the length of Manhattan…
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San Francisco
The artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?
The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition