Steven Vincent Mitchell interview - 2011

Name: Steven Vincent Mitchell
Place of Birth: ENGLAND

Black Cat aka Didi: From how many years are you engaged in painting?
Can you share with the reader of xLegion the story of your artistic career ?
Steven Mitchell: I have been painting for 6 years, with a air brush. 
Before that I have used many different 2d and 3d mediums. 
I also worked as a tattoo artist and run a tattoo studio, so i have  always been creating something. 
I remember when I was 18 seeing a friend’s new tattoo. 
Immediately I knew that this was the genre I wanted to work in. 
So 1987 I apprenticed as a tattoo artist.
My mission as a tattoo artist, was to use my artistic skills to help clients express their inner visions on their skin, and mark their rites of passage in a time honoured way. 
I owned and ran a tattoo studio for many years. In this time I met many fantastic people, who in turn enriched my life experiences; it was very fulfilling to share in this holistic, shamanic experience with them.

Towards the late nineties there were new visions  growing deep inside of me that I felt compelled to express, but they were outside of the tattoo genre. So in 1999 I stopped tattooing.

I then visited the USA and Canada. While in the USA, I spent time with the Navajo and Hopi tribes. In Canada 
I lived and worked with the Huron [Mohawk/Mohican] tribe on their reserve. 
I feel privileged to have been embraced by these people, some of whose traditions, craft skills and mystical healing arts I now incorporate into my art and my life today.
I am inspired by the unseen, the mystical. When I am painting I go to a different world; a dark and symbolic world. 

B.C.:  Let's say I'm someone who knows next to nothing about art, but I am genuinely interested in hearing you talk about your art. Leaving all jargon and assumptions behind, how would you describe as clearly and plainly as possible what your art looks like, why and how you make it, your intentions, and what you believe your art means?
S.M.: As simply as a can express it in words. 
my paintings are visions that I see in my minds eye, the only way I can share  my visions  with people is to create  paintings of  them.  
I chose to paint with a air-brush, as I can express  the subtleties of essence and feeling with it.
My visions are not from the world our waking  mind resides in.
I bring the images to this world to share them.          

B.C.: What's the greatest challenge you face when you paint something not found in nature? How do you "flesh out" a creature that exists only in your head? 
S.M.:To translate my vision into a painting that is feel-able, and  captured in a moment of time.

B.C.: In what ways do you stretch yourself to make your work grow?
S.M.: I try constantly to make my art more alive, to put in spirit, so it feels alive.

B.C.: Is there a philosophy (or any other brain activity that cannot be achieved without above average IQ) involved in a process of making art? In other words, can it be unconscious and is it an art then?
S.M.: Im not sure about IQ, i have  never taken a test.

The place I go to [ I call it a place because it feel real to me ]  to were I see my visions, is other worldly .
So I see things  that are not regularly seen.
Sharing  theses vision with people via the medium of ''air brush paintings'' is what I do,  I cant say wether this is Art or not. 

I recently discussed this in depth, With Ven Thupten Ngodup [Tebet's state Oracle].
He gave some interesting insights into my paintings

I was granted a ordnance with him to show him some of my new Bardo paintings.
[this all happened When I stayed with the Tibetan refugees in Dharamshala ''this is  residence of his ''Holiness the Dali lams'' in india]

I was curious to know if my visions  were similar in essence to some of the  images and feelings  described in the original ''Tibetan  book of the dead'' which I understood  gave detailed accounts of the bardo states.

[The ''Bardo'' in spiritual teachings is:: "The place in between"" death and rebirth, were the human sole can wonder aimlessly. 
Or with guidance the individual sole can achieve enlightenment and or rebirth. 
in the ''BARDO'' the human sole faces its own symbolic shadow self, in this confrontation with self., the individual can achieve liberation through embracing these aspects of there self
thus  then achieving liberation or enlightenment] 

I wanted his honest opinion on my bardo  paintings.
I new the Orical was probably the only person in the world who could give me information and feed back based on experience and knowledge.
In his sharing and  divination that was given for me, He expressed that;
I do indeed I have a gift  that is ''God given'' to  see into the Bardo states
and express this essence in my paintings, and that these  paintings serve as a insight in the Bardo states. 

He  considered there is a  deeper meaning and philosophy to  my art. 
So im now working towards bring the ''Bardo painting'' to public exhibition in 2011.

B.C.: Which comes first for you-the concept or the image?
S.M.: Both, I see and feel and experience the whole image, then the work is to paint it. 
I work manly at night, when im inspired and see a new painting in my minds eye, 
I can work for days without until I have the concept roughed out. 
It can then take months to finnish a painting, slowly building layer on layer bringing it to life . 

B.C.:  Is there anything about your creative process that you would describe as paranormal.
S.M.: The whole creative process  of how a images are formed  in the mind of a artist, 
then how it is brought to the attention of other people, via the medium the artist chooses to use  is ''Paranormal''

B.C.: Do you believe in extra sensory perception? Please give a reason why you do, or why you don't?
S.M.: Yes I believe there are many levels of perception, 
my own personal  experience lead me to understand this. 
I observe the worlds via a different lens then other people, my  paintings give people the chance to see what I see. 

B.C.: When did you first discover your dark side? How? When?
S.M.: 20 years ago , I personalty experienced  my own ''dark night of the sole'' within drug and alcohol addiction,  I nearly killed my self  in the process, I then  had a ''moment of clarity'' into my  own shadow nature.
I embraced and  except it, that was 20 years ago,  I have never looked back. 
I believe we all have dark and light within us, its what we ''do'' with the shadow that's important.
some actions will evolve us some will not.

B.C.:  What is something about your art that you think is important that viewers generally overlook or misunderstand?
S.M.: The  humour in some of my paintings.
people think to much about my art instead of just experiencing it.
You can not  intellectualise my art,  to do this; is to  just masturbate the mind over it !!!!!

this is why I like to do public exhibitions of the original works  [ some of my paintings are large 2.5x 1-5m in size ] 
Then you  get to feel them, experience them,
When someone dose this they always come away with a new perspective.

B.C. : I’ve seen on your website some short videos “Sacred Movies”. Can you explain to the reader the meaning and above all the porpose of these original movies?
S.M.:,They are filmed with the intention to capturing and expressing  ''unconsidered feelings''
And then  to lead to the observer to experience there own ''unconsidered feelings'' 
so that they then may Feel different to what they think they do!
This my be insightful or sacred to them.

B.C.: What hangs on your walls? Do you collect the work of other artists?
S.M.:My own paintings , my wife enjoys having them around.
I have works by other artist who I like and respect , 
H.R.Giger  is one,   and works from indigoes artists, also lots of strange curiosities i have collected or been given. 

B.C.:  Where do you think the majority of your work will end up thirty years from now?
S.M.:My painting are already being collected by private collectors from all over the world, so some paintings  will stay  in private art collections.
But a selected body of my life's work, will be on permanent  public display in a Museum, so that the art can be enjoyed by everyone.
But for the time being i am  still busy creating.

B.C.:   Thanks for your time Steven! It has been a pleasure to interview an artist like you

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