Painting and story of a ghost orphan by artist G. Mark Mulleian

The Orphan

This 1986 painting, entitled "The Orphan" by Mulleian quickly drew public attention during the 1980s and 1990s. It's popularity became apparent while on display for six months at one of the largest west coast exhibits after being nominated for the ASI (Artist's Society International) Award. This monumental art competition drew fifteen thousand artists nationally and internationally, and lasted well over a year.

In 1986 one of Mulleian’s most popular paintings, “The Orphan”, was awarded the ASI award by Artist Society International and presented by Charlotte Mailliard at a gala event at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. In what is one of Mulleian’s most sensitively romantic pieces there may be found universal themes of profound loss, eventual renewal, and ultimate hope, as inner emotions are mirrored by a setting which is both naturalistic, but more essentially, mystical. It is a metaphor which is deeply reflective and almost painfully melancholic yet hope can be found in the physical setting which weds death and deterioration with healing, renewal end inevitable rebirth, and time falls like leaves blown by an autumn breeze, kindling deep inner reflections far beyond the limits of time. From a fractured world is a ghost orphan who still waits on the front steps; a place where dreams are born as the rain begins to fall.