Marlon Mullen bases his paintings on found images—primarily lifestyle, news, and contemporary art periodicals. In the process of developing a painting, Mullen’s original magazine pages usually become obscured—literally abstracted—subsequently reducing images to a graphic schema of interlocking colors and forms. Similar to the beats created for hip hop, which operates at the threshold between legibility and illegibility, Mullen’s works live within the multiple histories of 20th century modernism, while still remaining highly personal.