Eli McMullen Paints Forests Lit by Structures That Feel Like Altars From Another World

Eli McMullen is a multidisciplinary painter and muralist based in Richmond, Virginia, who earned a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015. He co-founded Endeavor Studios, a grassroots artist-run space in Richmond’s Jackson Ward arts district that hosted First Friday exhibitions and music events.

McMullen’s paintings fuse realistic architecture and scenery with abstract shapes, glowing geometric forms, and unnatural light, creating surreal nightscapes devoid of human figures yet full of evidence that people once passed through. He describes his process as taking real elements from his environment — architecture, light, and feeling — and remixing them into imagined landscapes, calling it “an abstract shuffle of the elements.” Much of his imagery comes from documenting Richmond’s neighborhoods by bicycle, chasing shifting sunlight and stumbling into unexpected moments that later resurface as ethereal structures immersed in wilderness.

His acrylic and gouache works have been described as glowing with “dreamy nostalgia,” with neon light emerging from dark, moody scenes like winks from a higher consciousness. His art has appeared at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Glave Kocen Gallery, Black Iris Gallery, Talon Gallery, Lump Gallery, and in publications including Hi-Fructose Magazine, Richmond Magazine, and The Washington Post.

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