- Featured Artist
Re-addressing the roots of animation, this issue’s featured artist Jason Mitcham proposes that “when a painting becomes a field of narration, the artist’s mindset about constructing the image changes. No longer are marks made with the ultimate, final state of the image taking precedence. Rather, every mark creates the animation, so only the next movement matters.” Portraying this re-presentation of animation, Mitcham’s work featured in this issue are stills of the project The Future Is but Obsolete in Reverse where “As the animations develop, the paintings become topographic ‘terrains’ of built up layers. In the end they stand as archaeological remnants of the process” (see https://vimeo.com/198425656).
Mitcham’s work has been exhibited at the Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC, NURTUREart, Brooklyn, NY, the Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC, Fine Arts Gallery, SUNY Westchester Community College, Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, Netherlands, University Gallery, University of Florida, and Made in NYC Media Center, Brooklyn, NY. He has had recent solo exhibitions at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, BRIC Media Arts, Brooklyn, NY, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI, and 406 Gallery, Elon University. His work is represented in the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art as well as the University of Florida School of Forest Resources and Conservation. He has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Foundation for Contemporary Art, and the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, and was a finalist for the 1858 Prize, Gibbs Museum of Art, Charleston, SC. His painting animations have been included in the Los Angeles International Film Festival and premiered on NPR’s website. He holds an MFA from the University of Florida, and currently teaches at CUNY Queensborough Community College and SUNY Westchester Community College.