Ugo Mulas-sarahlynn

Although Ugo Mulas’ first love was drawing, his journey into photography is quite an interesting story. After spending a lot of time in the cafe giamaica, someone let him borrow a camera and the unique transaction spurred Mulas’ self-taught photography skills. Even though his first commission in 1954 was for a Venice Biennale photgraphic documentary, his true interest lied in the lives and works of artists. Mulas is related to two other artists on our list: Lee Friedlander and Robert Frank. Many of their photographs are similar because Mulas was influenced by these two photographers. Mulas was also influenced by a lot of American pop artists after his trip to New York from 1964-1967. Particular of interest to him was Marcel Duchamp, who allowed Mulas to explore the language behind his art, therefore, I chose a picture of Marcel Duchamp. Although Marcel’s facial expression is hard to figure out in the photo, the setting and background give insight into how Marcel evaluates art. In particular, I was struck by the way Marcel’s seems to stare directly at the observer, which could suggest that Marcel is evaluating you and not the art.