In Residence:
Sam Mitchell: Hell’s Kitchen Series, 2011-2012
July 11 - September 10, 2017
Sam Mitchell, Hell's Kitchen #4 (2011), ink on found image. Courtesy of Melanie Roger Gallery
Sam Mitchell was the recipient of the Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award at the 19th Wallace Art Awards in 2010; a six-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York. Her stay at ISCP in 2011 was a stimulating creative experience. She found and used many sources of reference for developing new work in New York and on return in New Zealand. The Hell’s Kitchen series (six small drawings) and small drawing on display present a small sample from this time.
“They are Lithographs of Northern Generals from the American Civil War 1861 - 1865, sold separately in piles of pages pulled out of historical texts. The elderly seller was surprised that I with a Kiwi accent had any interest in the Civil War. Little did he know my intentions - defacing such a sacred subject matter by adding my own graffiti on these images, creating a new narrative for such a bloody historical battle. This Flea Market was an outdoors market in Hell’s Kitchen selling antiques, clothes, bric-à-brac.
Spending six months in NYC as the winner of the James Wallace Art Award in 2011 allowed these research trips to Flea Markets and art galleries to fuel the work that was made while in residency at the ISCP”.
-Sam Mitchell, 2017
About the Artist:
Sam Mitchell (b.1971) lives and works in Auckland and has a BFA from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. Her work is in several national and international collections. In 2014 she was the William Hodges Fellow in Invercargill and had a solo exhibition at the Southland Art Gallery and Museum. In 2015 she was the Tylee Cottage Artist in Residence in Whanganui.