Courtly Love: Nick Mullaly

‘Courtly Love’ is a symbolic suite of new paintings by Naarm/Melbourne based artist Nick Mullaly. The works exude a dramatised romanticism by referencing classical iconography of religion and mythology, cinema and gay erotica, acting as totems of love, lust and sorrow. 

These polarities of emotional states have the ability to transcend logic and realism, pointing to the hilarity of the psyche when enamored by romantic and sexual life. 

The term ‘courtly love’ refers to a romantic union between two unmarried people in medieval times. Though not typically consummated, these relationships were dependent on acts of flirtation and chivalry, a concept still relevant in contemporary life. Mullaly renders compositions that exaggerate interior worlds of romance. He draws from Western painting’s so-called canon to expose the unchanging nature of these ideas.

Desire is also felt within the endurance of studio time and the perseverance of picture making. A painter's pursuit emanates similar feelings of anguish and intensity, adding visual weight to the labour of love. Informed by methods of post-impressionist and expressionist painting and the granular nature of film, Mullaly emphasises these qualities of scattered light, energetic gestures and warm matte layers on the canvas, building theatrical scenes that move from sharpened to hazy.

‘These processes unite the fabric of a picture, carrying the potential to foster hidden worlds between layers and brush strokes in a way that feels as allegorical as the subject matter depicted in the compositions.’

This is seen in ‘Pietà’, a painting by Mullaly inspired by the Michelangelo sculpture in which the Madonna and Christ are replaced with figures who resemble two men entwined on a hazy beach landscape at sunset. The narrative changes from grief to that of a dying lover; the end of a relationship, sentimentally rendered with staccato-like brush marks that sharpen and disintegrate. Mullaly uses a similar painterly approach but contrasting tone in ‘The Red Wine Drinkers’, a bizarre and comical scene of two figures gazing at the viewer, erect and cupping their drinks. The line between hedonism and earnestness is further expressed in the paintings ‘Date Paying Attention’ and ‘Angel’s Share’, where Mullaly seeks to embody different stages of boozy intimacy that elicit anticipation, fantastical delusion and hope. 

Each painting contemplates the human heart when spellbound by desire, or caught in the rapture of courtly love. 

- Nick Mullaly