Mitch Mitchell (Montréal)

A History of a First Failed Industry (2015)

Mélange complexe de techniques traditionnelles et industrielles, l’installation A History of a First Failed Industry rappelle l’histoire des médias imprimés et de la courtepointe. Les carrés de papier, faits de fibres de lin et de murier à papier, présentent une myriade de motifs inspirés autant de la tradition que de la haute technologie. La multiplicité des images se veut une allusion aux déchets, au travail et à la fragilité, tout en évoquant des histoires de familles, tel un monument élevé à sa grand-mère, qui lui a appris à faire des courtepointes, et à son grand-père, travailleur dans les mines de charbon.

Mitch Mitchell a exposé au Canada, aux États-Unis, en Pologne, au Japon, en Chine et au Portugal. Il est assistant professeur au département d’impression de l’Université Concordia. Sa première exposition muséale itinérante débutera en 2016 sous le commissariat de Sarah Filmore, commissaire en chef de l’Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Mitch Mitchell travaille à Montréal et à Chicago.


A complex mash-up of traditional and industrial technologies, Mitchell’s massive paper installation reveals multiple stories from the histories of print media and quilting. The squares of paper, made from linen and mulberry fibres, are printed with a myriad of patterns, referencing tradition as well as high technology. . The graphic multiple in Mitchell’s work is a metaphor for waste, labour and fragility, but the piece also alludes to personal histories and family secrets.

Mitch Mitchell is a multidisciplinary artist working in Montreal and Chicago. With his large-scale print-based sculptures and installations he explores familial histories while referencing labour and contemporary modes of studio art production, craft and art history and the fine art object as contemporary ruin. Mitchell has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally throughout Canada, the United States, Poland, Japan, China and Portugal. He is Assistant Professor of Print Media at Concordia University and is currently preparing his first touring museum exhibition, curated by Chief Curator Sarah Fillmore of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, which opens in 2016.