Mitch Revs | A Mashup of Creativity & Passion

WORDS LIANE MORRIS

It's difficult not to be inspired by the story behind Newcastle's favourite art entrepreneur, Mitch Revs, or to be uplifted by his life-affirming coastal artworks that have become synonymous with Newcastle's surf and skate culture. With murals dotted about the city, a gallery on Hunter Street and products that range from calendars and jigsaw puzzles to coffee cups, stubby holders and beach towels, it's art that's identifiably his and designed to put a smile on your face.

Mitch's art reflects all the things he loves in life, and he credits his grandmother for instilling a love of colour and form into his world at a young age. His parents split when he was just three years of age. His father and grandfather ran Resevsky Engineering out of the family home in Merewether Heights, and his mum

worked two jobs. Much of his time was spent with his cousins, in the care of his grandmother, who would use art, drawing and craft to entertain her young charges.

"We used to sit up at the dining room table, colouring in and drawing, we even did crotchet," remembers Mitch.

"We did a little bit of everything, and there was always the pool too. They are the best memories. I love where I grew up, and I'm so grateful that it wasn't a digital childhood."

Despite his success in business and art today, ironically, he failed both subjects at school.

"I've always had a busy mind and am easily distracted. My family were intellectuals, so it was hard for me. The only subject at school that I excelled at was creative writing in English, where I could explore my own visions and create new worlds. I think that despite never being diagnosed, I was probably neurodiverse, and I struggled to find my place after school."

Mitch's first foray into art as a career began when his friends started getting tattoos. He invested in a tattoo machine from eBay (which he doesn't recommend as a safe thing to do) and started experimenting on himself.

"I have the scars on my legs as a constant reminder of how my journey began," he laughs.

"I ended up getting an apprenticeship at Mystery Ink on Hunter Street, which I loved, and then I moved up to Byron Bay and worked out of my home doing a lot of tattoos for a lot of bikies. It was all dark stuff, skulls and the like, no colour, and I was getting sick of it."

"It was around that time that I started struggling with anxiety, and my dad encouraged me to find something more positive to do with my life. It was a really big drinking culture; I was partying too hard and hanging with the wrong sort of crowd – drinking to mask my anxiety. Dad asked me what I liked – surfing, skating, the coast, colour, drawing, and suggested that I simply mash them up into one new thing – to do what I enjoy. And it just kind of happened naturally. I developed this new style right around the time Insta kicked off, I started to document my creative process, and before I knew it, I'd entered a whole new world of collaboration with brands and making art."

Mitch has embraced sobriety and hasn't had a drink for three years, and it's been an incredibly productive time for him. He almost never stops working and is passionate about making art.

"If it was my last day on earth - I've told my family this - I would spend half of it with them, and then I'd have to spend half of it just making art. I was born to do this."

Mitch established a small gallery space on Hunter Street primarily because he needed somewhere to hang his art and try to sell it. It was a small space that had been vacant for some time and, as such, was reasonably priced. As his popularity increased, he was able to employ someone to help him, which is where his PA and Brand Development Manager, Kelly Williams, comes into the story.

"Kelly has been incredibly valuable and formative for the business. She came from a custom framing and printing background, so we now have the skillset to offer custom framing and high-quality art printing services for artists. Those first few years, every penny I earned went into the purchase of high-spec equipment so that we could offer these services with confidence and not scrimp on quality. It was one of the things that used to drive me nuts. As an artist, I was always looking for better quality, consistent printing, mounting and framing so that I could sell my artworks and present them in the best possible way. But, unfortunately, it's tough to find and can get extremely expensive. So now we do it all in-house, offering those services at reasonable rates to make it easier for other artists."

This idea of giving back is central to what Mitch does. The workshops he offers for children, teens and adults are about trying to recreate that dining table creative experience from his own childhood – a chance to share in the pursuit of creativity and to teach that it is possible to make a living from your art.

"The whole idea of the starving artist is bullshit. If I hadn't had a creative grandma, what would I be doing now? People disregard the creative arts as a viable career option, and I'm here to tell you that that's wrong. If I can inspire kids so that they look back and remember how good it felt to create, to open their eyes to the possibilities of art making, then I'm happy."

And let's not forget that art-making can simply be fun. Mitch also offers Pinot & Picasso workshops for adults and hopes that it helps people to reconnect to their inner child.

Image by Sean Fox

"About 50% are super excited about their artworks, and the other 50% rave about the wine!"

With so much going on for the artist, there have been lots of highlights in his life and career of late. Career-wise, being one of just three artists nationally to be chosen to adorn the iconic Vegemite label on their 95th anniversary to sum up the 'taste' of Australia was unbelievable. There was a little bit of panic by the artist before he came up with the answer.

"It tastes like the outback, the ocean, the road trips. It feels like our youth, the summer sun and endless fun. A sign of good times, good company and salty memories. I wanted this job more than anything in the world."

"Emily is an amazing person, and I love her to bits. We knew all along that childbirth might be difficult for her due to medical issues, so when she fell pregnant naturally, we were stoked. Both my mum and my dad have twins in their family, so I guess we shouldn't have been surprised. At 26 weeks Emily wasn't well and had to go to hospital. At 30 weeks and one day, little Bodhi had stopped growing, and they had to birth them and put them in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at John Hunter Hospital. They spent about ten weeks in NICU, which is an amazing place. Bodhi was born at just 700 grams, and his sister was 1.5kg. I can never repay them for the wonderful work that they did in helping my little family survive and thrive. It's all sunshine and rainbows now!"

Mitch's latest exhibition, The Long Way Home, opens on 3 December and features a collection of hand-painted works that draw from childhood memories. The works in this series offer interpretations of playful creativity. The objective to emphasise—that we are born creative and how we can reconnect with our childhood freedom of expression to remind ourselves of what we have learnt along the way. Overall, the series invites the viewer to reflect on their own journey and remember simpler times, before the internet and screens, when all we had was a piece of paper and a crayon. One hundred per cent of the proceeds from this exhibition will be donated to the John Hunter Children's Hospital.

Mitch is not big on planning for the future, he prefers a more organic approach, but in 2024 it will be ten years since his first exhibition, so until then, he expects to create as much work as he can.

"I never know what's going to come out of my brain. I guess my work may change a little with a greater reflection of my family, perhaps, and new things always come up - new collaborations. I just want to enjoy the early years of my kids' lives, keep my business steady and keep the colour coming!"