[3] Mullican received his BFA degree from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 1974.

He rose to prominence as a member of The Pictures Generation along with such artists as Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, David Salle, James Welling, Sherrie Levine, Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, Richard Prince and Robert Longo.

[6][7] During these performances, Mullican channels an alter ego known as 'That Person', who displays extreme and erratic behavior.

Drawings made by Mullican while hypnotized are frequently exhibited and attributed to 'That Person'.

Mullican's work has been reviewed in Artforum,[9] the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The New York Times,[3] and Modern Painters, among others.