Michael Mulhern Press

New York’s 9/11 Museum unveils its first ever special exhibition. ‘Rendering the Unthinkable’ brings together artworks inspired by the attacks of 11 September 2001, the 15th anniversary of which falls this month. It is the first time the museum has put together an exhibition outside of its permanent collection.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center in New York City opens a new exhibition on September 12, featuring seminal, mural-sized works from the estate of New York artist Michael Mulhern.

Mulhern’s elusive paintings, both on canvas and paper, were continuations of his recent exploration of layering, concealment, and excavation as metaphors for lived experience and the construction of self. Subtly modulated expanses of dull, metallic, aluminum grey, applied with broad gestures, bury layers of wispy calligraphic marks, which survive mainly as memories but occasionally escape at the edges, haunt the thinnest passages, or are retrieved by scraping out.