the debut solo exhibition by Duke Mitchell
Lavish Vandalism
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Lavish Vandalism
September 23 - October 16, 2022
View Art Gallery
View Art Gallery presents the debut solo show by Duke Mitchell
Story-telling is at the heart of the the artist’s practice. Luke is an observational sponge who reinterprets information and objects to create a new narrative. The work is somewhat autobiographical, either in literal terms or from an extensive imagination of his world.
The physical output is as equally diverse as the source of inspiration. This collection includes a 5 metre wide pentaptych painting, numerous found materials that form 3D work and cinematic-style photography and film.
The artist takes the viewer on an intellectual and emotional journey, allowing the work to be appreciated on many levels. We may marvel at the clever use of art historical references or laugh at the satirical take on current socio-political issues. We can take pure aesthetic pleasure in the colourful imagery and playful re-imagined use of discarded objects. It is possible that we take away some new thinking on the world and challenge our call-to-action on environmental and social issues.
The interdisciplinary work of Luke Mitchell (aka Duke) looks to explore the world through a curatorial lens. These inquiries begin through photography and painting, then take shape across multiple and unlimited forms. His artworks combine art historical themes with observations of the the world around him and our role within it.
Lavish Vandalism is an exhibition formed over many years and through multiple lenses. This is a collection of work from an innovative artist who never stops re-thinking, re-imagining and re-working. It would not be a surprise if some of the work featured in this catalogue has evolved further by the time the exhibition finishes!
Duke Mitchell
A decade in the making, this painting started life as a film still from Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo 66 (1998). Each component of the painting has it’s own backstory. It is therefore a collage of stories stitched together to form a single staged scene. A tattooed man sits naked speaking on the telephone surrounded by various possessions and a pile of empty beer bottles.
“Therecmare
Man on the Telephone
times when I imagine this as my future”
Wallpaper, oil, emulsion, paint pens, plastic, felt tip, chalk and wax on handmade canvas in painted frame, 230 x 150
Spanish Foxgloves & Tails (170 x 100 cm) Oil and thread on canvas
Blue (170 x 100 cm) Oil, emulsion, paint pens and thread on canvas
Formerly the painting which provided the background for the photographic portraits of academicians made during the Court Painter Residency at the Royal West of England Academy of Art. Now cut into five separate canvases, reworked as a pentaptych and updated for 2022, it looks to represent both the constant growing and dying flora (plants and flowers) and the theatre of fauna (animals) within a garden. When fully assembled it is an altarpiece to what one might call ‘gardening as method’.
Pineapple Broom Wallpaper (170 x 100 cm) Oil and thread on canvas
Garden Pentaptych
Strawberry Ronaldo (170 x 100 cm) Oil, emulsion and thread on canvas
Night Moves (Hot Pink Roses) (170 x 100 cm) Oil, emulsion and paint pens on canvas
Ros Cuthbert RWA (46x30cm) Oval print on wood
Phil Sayers (46x30cm) Oval print on wood
The Court Painter Residency
Made with 5x4 sheet film and set in traditional ovals, the portraits are informed by portrait miniatures, da guerreotypes and the work of the subject. They celebrate the history of the academy and it’s academicians, creating a juxtaposition between the historical and contemporary.
A series of large-format photographic portraits made during a week-long residency at the Royal West of En gland Academy or Art.
The Drawing Room Studio, made to resemble Monet’s Giverny studio, was open to the public throughout - who watched on as the portraits were being made. A 5m long oil painting provided a painterly background to each photograph, which has since been reworked as the Garden Pentaptych.
Derek Balmer PPRWA (46x30cm) Oval Print on wood
Oil and paint pens on canvas, 31 x 31 cm
AFlowersseriesofflowerpaintings,
ASunflowerscoverofSunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh (1888). Oil and emulsion on table-top, 102 x 65 cm
A vase of flowers handpicked from the Garden Pentaptych. Oil, emulsion, paint pens and chalk on canvas, 40 x 30 cm
Blood & AdaptedLeavesMichelin Guide star logo.
Flower #1
inspired by the artist’s own work, local gardens and famous paintings
Flowers From The Garden
Emulsion, paint pens, watercolour and glitter on canvas, 61 x 46 cm
Flower #2 (Flora) (18x25cm) Oil on canvas, 18 x 25 cm
Domino (90x25cm) Emulsion and paint pens on skateboard deck
Hand-painted skateboard decks featuring flowers.
Black Flower (110x24cm) Emulsion and paint pen on pintail skateboard deck
Skateboard Decks
Blue Flower (90x25cm) Emulsion, felt tip and paint pens on Logan Earth Ski deck (1975)
Untitled (50x60cm) Oval print on wood
Homeless Man (50x60cm) Oval print on wood
An ongoing series of staged contemporary large-format film photographs informed by celebrated painting. Country Lane (50x60cm) Oval print on wood
A man looks back at his luggage which has just fallen off the back of his car whilst driving down a country lane. Based on The Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène Delacroix.
A woman lying under the wing of an aeroplane.
Girl in a Pizza Place (50x60cm) Oval print on wood
Based on Automat by Edward Hopper.
Based on Christ in the Garden of Olives (The Agony in the Garden) by Eugène Delacroix.
Moonshine Photographs
Horse in Lava
Bunch of Ruined Brushes
Laugh or Cry
Re-cycled, Re-imagined
Broken Sun
Water Ain’t Blue (But it Wants To)
Oil, paper and paint pens on canvas, 80 x 65 cm
Both a love letter and a “Fuck you!” to painting. A face composed of discarded items, primitively assembled. Is it an expression of overwhelming joy or crippling sorrow, is it laughing or crying? Found objects, house paint, acrylic and oil on canvas. 60 x 40 cm
Objects orbit a mountain, upon which sits a planet, like a cherry on a cake, in a re-appropriated water cycle diagram where the forces of gravity have gone awry. The reverse of the canvas includes the ‘Figure of Love & Hate’ - a figure of eight or infinity symbol, but with hearts. Paper, oil, acrylic, paint pens and chalk on canvas in wood frame, 104 x 80 cm
Inspired by Bunch of Asparagus (1880) by Édouard Manet. A collection of unwashed brushes rendered unusable, bound together with string on canvas to form a bundle or bouquet (depending on orientation), 60 x 45 cm
A horse finds itself encrusted in cooling lava whilst on a beach during a volcanic eruption Oil, acrylic and model horse on canvas, 32 x 30 cm
The sun falls down to earth and cracks open on a mountain top in the Soča Valley in Slovenia. Acrylic, oil, emulsion and glitter on canvas in 2/3 frame, 43 x 32 cm
This series of work combines 2D and 3D, often using found or recycled artefacts to create a fresh story, bringing new life to discarded material.
Wonky Tonk Blues
A painting that combines multiple themes. Migration, magnetic fields, ‘tagging’ and eyes in portraits that follow you around the room.
Oil, emulsion, glitter and paint pens on wardrobe doors on wood panel.
120x75cm closed, 120x150cm open
Inside the(doorswardrobeopen)
A two-headed royal adorns the doors, which when opened reveals two suspended plants in an overgrown garden with their roots in lemons.
Wardrobe Altarpiece
This culminated in his famous book, The Maxims (1664), one of the true masterpieces of philosophy. Put more eloquently by modern philosopher, Alain de Botton, “Twitter gives us the opportunity to put La Rochefoucauld’s genius in to action in our own digital salons”. From this perspective Twitter still has great potential as a platform for sharing ideas, even if the wider population creates a lot of white noise. To formalise this idea, de Botton’s sentence has been distilled into something visual; an artwork as a symbol. With the regal portrait prevalent in 17th century European art, the blue bird (representing the Twitter logo) and the hand upon which it perches has been added. This builds on a tradition in portraiture whereby subjects are pictured with symbolic objects denoting wealth, profession or circumstances.
Re-appropriated digitised etching in oil painted frame, 40 x 30 cm
The Duc de La Rochefoucauld was a French author and philosopher (1613-80). Philosophers at this time communicated their wisdom and theories in big, expensive books. However, large proportions of the population couldn’t read or didn’t have very much money. He saw this medium was not conducive to ideas spreading, having reach or impact. So in the salons of France he came up with an idea for ‘one-line philosophies’, something short enough to be remembered and passed on by word of mouth. He tweaked these [Twitter length] aphorisms based on his audience’s reactions, like a comedian writing a ‘bit’.
La Rochefoucauld Holding a Bluebird
A series of portraits based on those found in a copy of The Early Modern World by C.F. Strong (1955) from City of Bath Girls’ School Library (1967) defaced with stationery.
Maria Theresa (A4 print in A3 mount) Hand finished in with pink highlighter
Jean Colbert (A4 print in A3 mount) Hand finished with black crayon
30 Years War (A2 in tray frame) Hand finished with paint pen
Ignatius Loyola (A4 print in A3 mount) Hand finished with red felt tip
Frederick the Great (A4 print in A3 mount) Hand finished with yellow highlighter
King Charles II of Spain (A4 print in A3 mount) Hand finished with felt tip
Ferdinand Magellan (A4 print in A3 mount) Hand finished with black felt tip
The Early Modern World
Single Editions
An ongoing series of contemporary medium-format film photographs with their roots in portrait painting. 1. Heather 2. Laura 3. Ed 4. Barnsey 5. Orsa 6. Craig 7. Sophie 8. Jai 9. AvailableNick in different size prints
6. When pleasure pays tribute to ease
7. Watch a movie in the jacuzzi, smoke L’s while you do me
3. News = Booze
9. Living like a lusty flower running through the grass for hours
2. The entertainment of war
Japanese Paper
8. Blood in your pockets at the Marseille barbeque
5. Baby, I’m just an animal waiting at your feet
Originals, available in box frames
1. It was so hot today I replied to all my morning e-mails naked
Japanese paper samples sourced and compiled by T. N. Lawrence & Son of Bleeding Heart Yard, London. Each re appropriated in an ongoing post-it-note commentary of overheard aphorisms, phrases and quotes.
4. I just found out the person I secretly love is crazy about me
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