Mitch Mitchell has been selected as the winner of the Okanagan Print Triennial 2012.
The show and competition is organized by Lubos Cullen, curator at the Vernon Art Gallery, Briar Craig, associate professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, and Liz Wylie curator at the Kelowna Art Gallery and all were impressed by the mysterious and enigmatic quality of Mitchell’s images.
Owing to his appreciation of scale, truth and iconography, a statement released Monday, March 26 said the organizers, who also acted as jurors, found the work achieved a dream-like tableaux that seem steeped in other-worldly light and spooky-looking mists.
“We liked the noir-ish, sophisticated ambiguities the artist achieved in his works,” the statement said.
Mitchell will be given a solo show in the Mardell G. Reynolds gallery space at the Kelowna Art Gallery in the spring of 2015 to coincide with that year’s incarnation of the Okanagan Print Triennial at the Vernon Public Art Gallery.
Launched in 2009 at the Vernon Public Art Gallery, the Okanagan Print Triennial is a collaborative effort of the Kelowna Art Gallery, the University of British Columbia Okanagan, and the Vernon Public Art Gallery. The works of twenty remarkable printmakers are featured in this year’s exhibition, including those by Derek Michael Besant, Mark Bovey, Liz Ingram, and Mitchell.
The Okanagan Print Triennial 2012 opens to the public on March 31 and will be on view to June 17, 2012. An opening reception will be held this Friday, March 30, 2012, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Kelowna Art Gallery. This is a free event, open to members of the gallery and guests, by invitation. Just prior to the opening reception, a free tour of the exhibition will be offered, beginning at 6:30 pm, and led by the three exhibition organizers.
The gallery will also host a round-table discussion on Saturday, March 31, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the gallery; the event is free to attend and open to the public. For more information, contact the gallery.
