Steven Vincent Mitchell - An artist who works with great passion!

The gallery is white from floor to ceiling and on the walls hung works which radiate darkness. In the darker corners are some tea lights and in the middle of the room are 2 columns showing the "Stonehenge Skull" and the "Sedona Skull", which before they where shipped to Amsterdam gone through a initiation process of 3 months. In between these real life skulls stands the statue "Homage" to the eponymous painting. This statue is part of a real altar. On the background plays music of Mongolian throat singing "chuumi" mixed by curator of this exhibition Yano Zigo. Zigo also led the inauguration ceremony of these three items on the evening before the opening of the exhibition (a bizarre coincidence is that during this ritual the owner of a houseboat on the other side of the canal has committed suicide).

After my 2nd round along the paintings, I end up in a different world. The inner journey Mitchell enters brings me back to the days where nymphs and satyrs are dancing in the woods when no taboos prevail. I let myself be enchanted by Mitchell's world of long shadows on the other side of the sun ... .. his visions. My passion for art, which certainly counts, exults into a hunger in me to get to know the fascinating man behind these paintings!

Completely at ease Steve answers; "I can’t remember anything other than that I always have had the need to create. From '87 to '99, I have used my artistic skills especially in the fine and beautiful art of tattoo. My mission was that I, with pleasure and passion, to help my clients to translate their inner visions into a tattoo. I will never forget these special moments and the people I met. Late in the ‘90s my need to create grew more and more. It was after 12 years that I stopped and exchanged my tattoo needle for my airbrush tools and paper."

Steve; "Jolie had been looking for years to find a picture of a Geisha that completely characterizes her. When she saw my painting "Geisha" she knew immediately that this was the one for her. I tattooed her entire back in the famous yakuza style."

Steve; "I think everyone who’s talented does not primarily need to be trained at an art academy. You know, anyone can learn to draw, but not everyone has the ability to create from the heart. I believe that will not last long because it doesn’t work if you always create ideas and images by what one expects of you. Of course it helps to know some skills but can easily be learned yourself. So all the techniques I use I taught to myself. I use various techniques including Indian ink but Airbrush is the medium that suits my work because I can easily create the different the layers. Though it has not been an easy to learn to use such a tricky technique. It took me some time to learn to do it well but now I can’t imagine using anything other. Well maybe oil some day. Next to that I also learned to bring "Homage" to life in 3D with the help Rubin of the Giger the Clan. That has been a really great collaboration. The project with the "Skull's" has taken me 6 years to complete because of the ideas I had and the difficultly of the material. I didn’t want to spoil this particular material because it comes from very sacred places and the mystical and mythical meaning of these places. You can draw a straight line on the world map from Stonehenge to Sedona. The skulls have many interesting metaphysical property. Did I tell you how I collected "Stonehenge"... ... ... "He whispers something in my ear and then tells me smiling and proud; "Do not tell anyone about it... hahaha ... ..."

Steve; "Haha that's funny you’d say so. Yet it is absolutely not my intention to have this effect on my viewers, though it can happen. For me it represents the very deepest subconscious sense of both myself and the viewer. Everyone has a dark side and you should embrace this to be able to receive and give love. That’s something I've learned over time when I've been in U.S.A. and Canada. After I stopped tattooing I had the opportunity to spend time with the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes in U.S.A and in Canada I lived and worked together with the Huron (Mohawk / Mohican) tribe in their sanctuary for a while. I have learned so much from both traditions, their crafts and especially their spirituality. During such a spiritual meeting, I learned to open up to the visions that had tortured my whole life in stead of repressing them. This has really been such a great experience and it still helps me every day and every moment when I'm working."

Steve holds his Coke bottle up and says; "This is all I use haha…. I use to drink heavily years ago and believe me, my world did not extend but I wanted so much to repress all my thoughts and feelings because I had no idea how to deal with them. And because I had now idea how to handle these dark thoughts and feelings I found my salvation in the bottle and that's almost killed me so ... .. I don’t drink a drop of alcohol anymore for years now and that is really the best thing ever happened to me ... ."

Steve; "I'm especially inspired by my subconscious, spirituality and my surreal world. When I paint I step into my other world. As the days turned into night I step through my door to the subconscious, into the long shadows of my world. This world shelters several symbols in which my ideas, my feelings, my properties and look at the other are imagined. The world I like to share with the audience but always with a humorous twist. For example when I painted "Black Tea" I was drinking a nice cup of tea and got the idea to convert it to a painting. These idea’s come to me during my creative processes with each painting. With "Sanctuary" for instance, I give a nod to the financial market. I literally painted the Financial Times, even far before the current crisis was a fact haha… These quarrels like a tea cup or a hat are my keys in my work. These objects are so obvious to everyone and creates a lower barrier into my work for the viewer. I therefore think that it attracts many people because everyone can identify with a subject or object in my work. At my last exhibition there was a visitor who came to the realization about her constant urge to have a perfect body. She saw herself in one of my paintings and was very impressed how I had managed to portray it so well. These moments I cherish and that’s among other why I love to create! "

Steve; "This is without doubt "Homage". This is a self portrait. He represents the darkest but also the most positive image of myself that I have. He represents my absolute life. This is the primordial god that which is the common thread through my work and everything I do. He has different names and faces in different religions but all come from 1 source. In the old nature religions, he is the protector of women and children. Besides painting I also had the desire to convert to 3D. After I visited the H.R. Giger bar in Switzerland I came in contact with Rubin of the Giger the team. Along with Rubin and his assistant I brought “Homage” to live.”

Steve; "Not at al it’s actually been a natural process. When I began painting I have sold a lot of my work to my people from my network. From all corners of society, people are interested in my work. Whether it's a high hotshot or the wife of the baker it doesn’t matter. These are the people who started to collect my work. On request of my permanent collectors I started to exhibit my paintings. They always love to help me to put down my collections for each show. I know that I’m really terribly lucky to have such loyal collectors."

Steve; "The fixed theme and the protagonist in all my exhibitions is the horned god and shown in several paintings that I've brought along. This painting is not leading but more specifically the part of the entire collection. The chosen locations are also an important part of my exhibitions. These locations have to fit to my work. At Bath in England last year "The Jester Obsession" was the perspective, this show was almost similar to this one only in a completely different setting. In an old morgue, I created a horned god passage in a plaster wall opposite to the entrance. You could see it from a distance... .. I also did the catering, for example ham in the shape of skulls. "The Fiddler (Lord of Misrule)" was my guide at the Horse Hospital in London. This exhibition was more like a carnival with wine and grapes. As the title of this exhibition also contributes, Saturnalia (ancient Roman festival in honor of Saturn (the God of Restriction is unbound and holy hell reigns) where everything was prohibited throughout the year than be permissible, gender roles were reversed and so on) a feast for fools (the medieval continuation). In all my exhibitions I take responsibility for all aspects. I find it especially important that the locations show the right atmosphere and feel. Tough I once said that a typical gallery with white walls would not really be suitable for my work but during a holiday here in Amsterdam we came across this gallery by chance. After a brief chat and a visit we decided immediately Yes Let's Do It."

Steve; "Giger for me is master of the airbrush and besides his work I especially appreciate Surrealistic art. Not that I’m keen on Dali, who has been working and just know how to sell because he knew how to stand out as a person. At this moment there is an artist from whom I really admire his work, the Polish artist Beksinsky (http://www.beksinski.pl/). I'll send a link so you can see it for yourself ... .. "

Steve; "Usually I listen to Mongolian throat singing" chuumi "when I'm working. Yet there are times when I work entirely in silence. No rock and metal so….... haha .. "

Steve, "I know that there is a strong interest in this scene for the work I make."

Steve; "When I would be approached, I would certainly love to design an album cover once, in the future."

Steve; "A little over one month from now we’ll go to New Delhi - India and then I will travel to the Himalayas for retreat in a Tibetan monastery. I will study and work with the Tibetan monks on the demons of the the Bardo. (The dead go to the Bardo, this is the place where the the human sole passes trough on the way to the light, this place is inhabited by monsters (demons)). I have been given permission to paint my impression of this mystical place. This theme will be part of my next paintings. I also had an offer during this show to exhibit in Beijing as a kind of cultural exchange organized by the world art foundation. In March 2010 we will be back in Amsterdam. At first we want try to conquer Europe with my work in the next year and then maybe finish in Beijing, that would be fantastic…. "

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