Bullen studied at Great Yarmouth College of Art and Design and Leeds Polytechnic, then completed an MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 1991. In the same year he was awarded a Rome Scholarship and spent 1991–92 at the British School at Rome. He began exhibiting with Jill George Gallery, London, in the early 1990s, holding several solo shows and continuing to exhibit internationally.

Collaboration is a recurring strand in his work. From 2011 he developed Chromatic Fields with composer Jamie Crofts, first as an artist’s book and later released as a CD and DVD, exploring shared concerns with notation, silence, rotation and permutation.

Residencies and curated projects include the British School at Rome, Eremo di Santa Caterina on Elba, the Experimental Printmaking Institute in Pennsylvania, Art at Wharepuke in New Zealand, and Gordon House in Margate. Recent exhibitions span UK and international venues, with solo and group presentations focused on reductive and systems-based drawing.

Bullen taught at the University of Brighton for over two decades, serving as Associate Dean and Head of Fine Art and as Course Leader for Printmaking. He established the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing as its first director, was elected a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and is completing a PhD by Publication at Brighton. His writing on drawing appears in book chapters, journals and conference papers.

2025 · Sunday Salon 33 (Solo), Saturation Point Projects, Acme Studios, London: 23 Mar
2024 · Spring Awake! (Group), Jill George Gallery, London: 4–16 Mar
2024 · Chromatic Fields (with Jamie Crofts), Art at Wharepuke, New Zealand: 15 Sep – 23 Oct
2023 · Lines of Empathy (Group), CLOSE Ltd, London: 3 Jun – 22 Jul
2012 · Chromatic Fields (with Jamie Crofts), Ian Rastrick Fine Art, St Albans
2012 · Out of the Box (Group), No Format Gallery, London
2012 · BITE: Artists Making Prints (Group), Mall Galleries, London
2011 · HOUSE (Group), Regency Town House, Brighton
2009 · International Mini Print (Group), Leicester Print Workshop/City Gallery, touring
2006 · Silence and Light (Solo), Otter Gallery, University of Chichester
2004 · Night Prayers (Solo), Star Gallery, Lewes
2002 · New Paintings (Solo), Jill George Gallery, London: 3–27 Sep
2001 · Duncan Bullen (Solo), Jill George Gallery, London: 18 Oct – 17 Nov
1998 · Lumen (with Lorry Eason), Eremo di Santa Caterina, Elba

• Chromatic Fields with composer Jamie Crofts (aka Jim Simm): artist’s book (2011); CD/DVD box set on ANTS Records (2020); exhibitions in the UK and New Zealand

• Lumen (with Lorry Eason), Eremo di Santa Caterina, Elba (1998)

• Night Prayers (solo series with related Elba project), early 2000s

• Curatorial/academic collaborations: Drawing Dialogues (with Masahiro Suda); Methodology of the Edition (with Masayuki Nishimura and Kunjana Dumsopee); Marks Make Meaning (with Philippa Lyon); group project Combinations (with Veronique Chance, Johanna Love, Mark Graver, Stephen Mumberson)

Dassai 39 Junmai Daiginjo
Fruity yet ultra-precise. Notes of white flowers, mango, apple, pear and a soft, clean finish. Polished to 39 percent for a silky, weightless texture.

Why it pairs with Duncan Bullen
His drawings are quiet fields of touch and time, built from tiny, repeated marks. Dassai 39 mirrors that restraint and clarity. Aromatics arrive gently, the palate stays poised, the finish is luminous and minimal.