Artist: Tyler Mitchell
Words by Gabriel Rees
Combining a keen awareness of subject and composition with a subtle yet strikingly unique authorial voice, Tyler Mitchell has created a deeply personal yet broadly resonant body of work, sensitively exploring ideas of identity, representation and freedom in contemporary culture. Moving between personal and commissioned work, Mitchell imbues each with the same sense of elegance, intimacy and individuality.
‘Mitchell offers his own staged version of reality, like a story in the retelling, offering a personal vision of utopia, a visual manifestation of the world in which he wants to live’
Central to Mitchells oeuvres is an examination of the ways in which culture and cultural identities are perceived and consumed. Exploring the place of art, artist and audience in creating perception as a whole, his work is a subtle articulation the power of photography in not only sharing identities, but also in shaping them. Blurring the boundaries of high art and fashion, Mitchell adopts a sensitive, naturalistic approach to composition, light and colour; instilling a nuanced sense of fragility and emotion in his imagery that at times appears almost naïve in in its purity, out of place in our reality.
Mitchell uses his photography, video work and installations to create his own staged version of reality, offering a personal vision of utopia, a visual manifestation of what the world could be. Simultaneously he tells and shapes his own unique story, explore the collapse of old culture barriers and the possibilities this presents through the nuanced tone and emotion of his compositions. Yet, although academically rooted and unwaveringly personal, his work is by no means inaccessible. As an artist, Mitchell has a knack for conveying complex emotions and meanings with a striking sincerity and humanism. Like a story in the retelling, he plays with the subjective and objective dichotomy of photography, his images bringing to light the idea that even if a scene is staged, for the brief moment its being shot, it’s a tangible version of reality.
Tyler Mitchell is represented by Art Partner.
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