JANUSIAN by MITCHELL

at
THE VIEWING ROOM

551 West 21st Suite #402 – 4th floor New York, NY 10011

An inaugural New York Solo Exhibition of abstract photographs
June 2nd-4th daily 10am-5pm by appointment

Opening Reception: June 3, 2010, 5-8pm

Mitchell’s 14 piece Janusian collection referencing "Janusian thinking", a thought process characterized by the concept of merging view points to reach a conclusion or decision will be presented at The Viewing Room for a very limited one night exhibition. The term, “Janusian” stems from “Janus”, the Roman god of gateways and doors who is usually illustrated as a two headed figure facing in opposing directions. But it is the interplay of perspectives – the exchange of information and communication which Mitchell alludes to in his minimal and dichotomous compositions; the point of engagement whereby the transference of ideas occurs.

Dunham will also include works from the Multifarious and Linear collections – both of which are also rooted in minimalism.

ABOUT MITCHELL
Contrary to the assumption that photography is about representation, pure abstraction in which the notion that something representational must be depicted is rejected in the vast majority of work. The images themselves along with the process of image making are the subject rather than the depiction of something identifiable. Images are shot with the purest of intuition and from a perspective largely influenced by aura occurrences associated with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

“I am searching for those slow motion frames from the mislaid footage of our lives, those elongated experiences we lost or slept through, echoes of memories, some thing in the mist of personal history, the blinkered image, the half frame peep beyond the curtain, it’s almost audible; the sound of snow—slightly deaf in one eye”, says Mitchell.

Immersion into the artist’s abstracted and mesmerizing imagery may be equated to visually experiencing ambient sound; in much of his work he engages senses beyond sight. It may not be the factual world we envision through the artist’s eyes nor lens, but what we experience through his introspective mind which is so compelling. He transports us to a realm of contrasts within which we find ourselves between definition and uncertainty; past, present and future; reality and the imaginary; even life and death. In his work these opposites coexist in a paranormal state as we are transported to a limbo where the unreal becomes real, the subliminal becomes obvious and disturbance becomes peripheral. In this semi-conscious disconnect he imposes; the amorphous becomes transformed to a clear and tranquil reality. Although the creative process for Mitchell has been inherent throughout his fashion and commercial career, it is in his fine art work that he reaches a higher level of aesthetic and conceptual thinking to which both his imagery and titles are testament. His inspiration is internally and externally environmental. Some years ago he was diagnosed with a neurological condition associated with aura oriented seizures which can create a temporary altered state of consciousness. In these episodes his physical and mental awareness can become intensified and dimmed concurrently. The onset of this condition has enhanced his sensory perception denoting a pivotal point in his career. We all may be memory collectors from our plastic camera holidays but behind the lens there are those of us who take pictures and those of us who are artists. Undeniably when Mitchell is behind the lens, he is a consummate artist.

ABOUT THE VIEWING ROOM: The Viewing Room, home to artists’ studios and fine art dealers/consultants has been featuring First Thursday openings for some time. It is the location for both the Manhattan studio of painter, James Kennedy and exhibition annex to Surface Library. Surface Library is an atelier and gallery in the Springs historic district of East Hampton, New York just across the road from the Pollock Krasner House. The gallery exhibits works of proprietors painter, James Kennedy and ceramicist, Bob Bachelor among others.

Work of Art, Bravo’s new reality show debuts 11 p.m. (ET/PT) June 9 with judges, critic Jerry Saltz and dealer Leanne Greenburg Rohatyn and Bill Powers, there will be no lack of theatre. The series features 14 artists in competition for $100,000 and a solo show at The Brooklyn Museum and i understand the pilot is hilarious.
Very much in the style of Project RunwayProject Runway, the show follows a similar casting protocol resulting ina collection of trained and untrained artists, one host (Connoisseur China Chow), one mentor (auctioneer Simon de Pury), and three judges (art critic Jerry Saltz, Half Gallery owner Bill Powers and gallerist Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn) — but that the editing remains much the same.

Work of Art’s first episode introduces audiences to the artists and asks them to execute a challenge. In this case, the task was to create a portrait of one of their colleagues - very art school but not so sure anything is wrong with that.

Not sure the next best thing will be revealed but the entertainment factor and value is anticipated to be great and someone gets "their 15 minutes"

Neuroscience and Art

"The struggle for scientific truth is long and hard and never ending. If we want to get an answer to our deepest questions—the questions of who we are and what everything is—we will need to draw from both science and art, so that each completes the other. From: To answer our most fundamental questions, science needs to find a place for the arts." By Jonas Leher

In working with Mitchell, (Mitchell's BIO) whose abstract photography is directly related to Neroscience, I have been seeking like minded artists. Here are some links on the topic of neuroscience and art: The work of Steve Miller, intergrating science and art. I like this quote on his website: "It seems to me that the most important gifts the sciences and arts have to offer eachother is a recognition and a synthesis of their different approaches to thinking, their different ways of being in the world. When these differences come together, often uneasily, we witness the full complexity and the mystery, and ultimately the grandeur of being human. Alan Lightman "Nature" vol 434, March 17, 2005. - -- A photographer who has had a history of experiencing/enduring repeated strokes Christian Erroi BIO Images --- Laurie Frick, mixed media artist states on the topic of neuroscience and art: I use pattern, words and color to replicate the feel of neurons firing in the brain. IQ points, bits of memory and accumulated media are all chopped up into a brain memory salad. Neuroscientists think memory is closer to bits flying out a blender than the often cited file-drawer analogy. I imagine the brain breaks down visual time into bits where the novel and odd are as important to recollection as the intensely emotional.

I use vaguely familiar cut-up materials as a stand-in for all the stuff you encounter in a day, where 24 hours are broken into corresponding mathematical equivalents and reorganized into a whole. Science is just moments away from explaining how our minds take in rhythm and how visual recollection and memory affect how each of us respond to art. Many neuroscientists are trying to assess from brain scans what is visually pleasing or beautiful. I think attraction is built on early experience, brain fluency and the desire to recover something recognizable. Not at the conscious or narrative level, but where pattern operates like music, and provides a rhythm that feels like a familiar recollection.
Mapping the brain is possibly the last big frontier, and it seems within reach. I compulsively study neuroscience – maybe deep down I worry about the slow deterioration of my mind and memory….does a fixation ever resolve anything? --- Susan Rankaitis, photographer in collaboration with neuroscientist David Somers. Her Limbick works at Robert Mann Gallery. Intersections of Art and Science at Scripps College - --"I Remember Better When I Paint", narrated by Olivia de Havilland, is the first international documentary about the positive impact of art and other creative therapies on people with Alzheimer's and how these approaches can change the way we look at the disease. A film by Eric Ellena and Berna Huebner, presented by French Connection Films and the Hilgos Foundation.. Among those who are featured are noted doctors and Yasmin Aga Khan, president of Alzheimer's Disease International and daughter of Rita Hayworth, who had Alzheimer's.

Aperture Panel: Abstraction in Photography, Hammer Museum

From the beginning, abstraction has been intrinsic to photography, and its persistent popularity reveals much about the medium. Artists Susan Rankaitis and James Welling and UCLA Associate Professor of Art History George Baker debate a host of approaches to the abstract photographic experience in this panel discussion moderated by Lyle Rexer, the author of The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography.

The Laumont staff with Mitchell's new work now available for exhibition. Stunning work!

The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography

APERTURE
Text by Lyle Rexer

From the beginning, abstraction has been intrinsic to photography, and its persistent popularity reveals much about the medium. The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography is the first book in English to document this phenomenon and to put it into historical context, while also examining the diverse approaches thriving within contemporary photography. Author Lyle Rexer examines abstraction at pivotal moments, starting with the inception of photography, when many of the pioneers believed the camera might reveal other aspects of reality. The Edge of Vision traces subsequent explorations--from the Photo Secessionists, who emphasized process and emotional expression over observed reality, to Modernist and Surrealist experiments. In the decades to follow, in particular from the 1940s through the 1980s, a multitude of photographers--Edward Weston, Aaron Siskind and Barbara Kasten among them--took up abstraction from a variety of positions. Finally, Rexer explores the influence the history of abstraction exerts on contemporary thinking about the medium. Many contemporary artists--most prominently Ilan Wolff, Marco Breuer and Ellen Carey--reject photography's documentary dimension in favor of other possibilities, somewhere between painting and sculpture, that include the manipulation of process and printing. In addition to Rexer's engagingly written and richly illustrated history, this volume includes a selection of primary texts from and interviews with key practitioners and critics such as Edward Steichen, László Moholy-Nagy and James Welling.

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER: Bill Armstrong's work featured on the cover of Rexer's latest book

The Mandala photographs are loosely based on Buddhist paintings known as mandalas. Mandalas are concentric circles of images that depict central themes in Buddhism, such as the Wheel of Life or the Map of the Cosmos. Through abstraction, simplification and blur, I hope to create a context for the exploration of these broad spiritual themes that, rather than relying on a codified system, remains open and invites the viewer's personal interpretation.
Like the other portfolios in the Infinity series, the Mandalas are made from collages that have been photographed with the camera's focusing ring set on infinity. Extreme defocusing allows me to create rhapsodies of color that change as one gazes into them: they pulsate as if alive. This sense of "being" within the inanimate invites an inquiry into the idea of the interconnectedness of all things.

Whether seen as celestial spheres, imaginary objects, or microscopic details, the Mandalas are meant to be meditative pieces--glimpses into a space of pure color, beyond our focus, beyond our ken. Their essential purpose is to create a sense of transcendence, of radiance, of pure joy!

David M. Mitchell's Diaphanous Collection
represents a sanctuary: a room, a window, a key-hole,
the double mirror – the see and not be seen. A gentle transition
between the inner spaces we create and the outside world we dream of mastering: a simplicity, a gentle passageway to the
physical beyond the machinery of consciousness.
-a simple wish of mind-

Limited edition c-prints are available
unmounted, acrylic face-mounted on various substrates
or mounted and framed under glass.
36 x 36 inches – edition of 5, 48 x 48 inches – edition of 3
60 x 60 inches – edition of 2

Linear 8
acrylic face mounted C-print, 36 x 36 inches

Luminaries: Window 3

acrylic face mounted c-print 24 x 24 inches

Excerpted from East Hampton Star, Jennifer Landes:“Mr. Mitchell’s photographs are clearly the stars of the show, although it is almost too easy to like their showy, filmy beauty. What makes them more intriguing is the puzzle of abstraction they present. If they are straightforward film photographs, what was the original subject and how far removed are we? It often seems as if he has managed to capture pure atmosphere in his “Linear” series. Yet in another example, “Window 3" from the "Luminaries Collection,” the subject seems to be another painting or a drop cloth and paint-stained canvas strips. The thick acrylic facing, clear as it is, provides another distancing device, and the viewer can never be certain just what is being viewed. Once peace is made with that conundrum, however, the pure beauty becomes its own reward.” For David M. Mitchell's bio click here.

I.M. Pei on the new Centurion Condominiums in NYC at 33 West 56th Street, NY, NY

and The Team who executed the tribute to an elegant neighborhood

Stillman Development International is no stranger to the fine art arena. The firm has collaborated with architects associated with award winning museum quality endeavors the likes of Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie, Michael Graves & Associates and Pei Partnership Architects with I.M Pei. Furthermore the firm works with its own curator to enhance the projects with placement of works by significant artists, including Alex Katz, Robert Indiana, Robert Cottingham, Donald Sultan and Wendell Castle, among others.

It’s no surprise that brokers are drawing analogies between Centurion & 15 Central Park West. Both projects have proven developers and celebrity architects who pay attention to each and every tiny detail. However, one could argue the limestone façade of Centurion is actually better. The stone is imported from France and has a soft finish which is noticeably different from other types of limestone. Considering this is the only Pei condominium in New York, we’re not all that surprised the building is selling fast, and at prices that snuggle right up to $3,000/foot. (from the nyc condo blog)

ICA: Dance With Camera

ICA: Dance With Camera

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I am at NeoCon Chicago representing works by Robert Brasher, R.R. Lyon, Vince Romaniello and David M. Mitchell. Mitchell's work is particularly apropos to the commercial interior design as his large scale c-prints are a available in multiple sizes. Although the work has commercial appeal, he maintains the status of fine artist in that editions are very limited.

Art Chicago: Carl Hammer Gallery, from Chicago, sold a Martín Ramírez for $100,000, and Russell Bowman Art Advisory, also from Chicago, sold a 1971 Jim Nutt painting for six figures to a private collector. Jerald Melberg Gallery, of Charlotte, North Carolina, sold a six-figure piece as well, among other sales. Chicago’s Carrie Secrist Gallery said it had several museums interested in The Hadal Project, an 11- by 24-foot photo print by Angelo Musco (which will be featured in this year’s Venice Biennale), priced at $115,000. A roughly 4- by 8-foot version of the same piece sold out multiple editions for $16,000, one to Kansas City’s Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the even-smaller version, priced at $4,000, sold out too.
“The best part,” said Secrist, “was that no one asked for a discount.”
In general, Chicago galleries seemed to fare particularly well. G.R. N’Namdi Gallery sold four pieces by the fair’s second day to both new and existing clients, and Kavi Gupta, an organizer of and exhibitor at sister show Next, almost completely sold out his booth, which included works by German artist Ulf Puder, among them Mobilien, an oil on canvas for $8,500. Stephen Daiter Gallery, with photos by Wayne Miller, Art Shay, Helmut Newton, and Paul D’Amato, saw steady traffic throughout the fair's run.

Gregory Coates at Art Chicago

Photos: Ilona Pawlak at GR Namdi Gallery - Art Chicago

SURFACE LIBRARY GALLERY hosts TEXTURES
by guest curator Lynn Dunham

June 25 – July 26th
Opening Reception: Saturday June 27th

SURFACE LIBRARY Gallery will host “TEXTURES”, an exhibition of artists as alchemists surveying aesthetic significance from unexpected and repurposed materials. In celebration, SURFACE LIBRARY will host an opening reception on Saturday, June 27th from 6 – 8pm. Guest curator Lynn Dunham of Art Rent & Lease has assembled a group of artists who find unexpected beauty in unusual materials with an emphasis on texture.
Participating artists include international and local artists whose work is currently on rotation with Art Rent and Lease – a cyber-gallery that rents, leases and sells fine art to business and residential clients, including eco-friendly Green Art. Lynn Dunham brings her unique art-acquiring concept to SURFACE LIBRARY in support of emerging and established artists and to promote sustainable, green and environmentally friendly art.

Guest curator Lynn Dunham has chosen works by David M. Mitchell, Vincent Romaniello, Gregory Coates, Matuschka, Gabriel Schuldiner, Roger Thomas Justice, James Kennedy, Lori Glavin and Tanya Bell – all of whom explore texture with unconventional materials. Site-specific work by Lori Glavin and Gregory Coates are relevant to the Art Rent and Lease "green" certification, whereby works are created with re-purposed materials.

SURFACE LIBRARY is an atelier and gallery, co-founded by Irish abstract painter, James Kennedy and potter, Bob Bachler, to create and present their art and design work. The gallery is also proud to present exhibits featuring new artists in multi media.

It is located at 845 Springs Fireplace Road, East Hampton (opposite the Pollock-Krasner House in the Springs District). Gallery hours are Thursday to Sunday from 1pm to 7pm, and by appointment. For more information, please call 631.291.9061, e-mail at info@surfacelibrary.com or visit: http://www.surfacelibrary.com/

Science and Art coming together

Wainscott Artist, Steve Miller's name has come into converstion twice this week in two completely different settings and then on Twitter. So I am thinking there is a reason and I am no longer asleep at the wheel. How could I have missed this New Art TV segment. Great stuff!
For more about Steve Miller go to his website,