INTRODUCTION
Perceptive, thought-provoking, and with more than a little humour, there is always more than meets the eye in a Gordon Mitchell exhibition. The experience is as cerebral as it is visual, as the interplay of images and words give rise to stimulating and engaging insights. A-ha moments are a-plenty! Drawing upon traditional iconography, news stories and visual puns, Gordon presents us with unexpected juxtapositions and sharp- witted commentaries, which question everyday reasoning and the ‘taken for granted’. He invites us into his iconic painterly world, rich with meaning and intrigue, but his humour ensures that we stop just short of taking it and ourselves too seriously. In this exhibition, Sight-Seer , we can appreciate the play on words as we travel through the paintings, engaging with them visually first, and then with our minds. With unparalleled draughtsmanship, Gordon creates images that are immediately compelling due to their illusion of reality. When the obvious technical process is removed however, something puzzling, witty, often provocative, and always memorable, becomes apparent. Now we really see! The exhibition also features several paintings in which the subject matter is, upon first sight, typical of a sightseer’s view, but which very quickly offer up another vision, and an opportunity to question and reflect upon the world we live in today. Future postcards from our present time perhaps. If the immediate experience of Gordon’s paintings is visual, and the secondary, cerebral, what strikes me when I spend time with his paintings is the way that they engage emotions. Poignant and human, they explore the quirks and intimacies of relationships. Gordon’s use of colour and symbolism is quietly uplifting and hopeful; he chooses to paint so beautifully cracked pots, woods with aged patinas, lovers, birds, butterflies, and fruit, so often in pairs. And of course, the eggs – long standing symbols of birth and renewal. With warmth and sensitivity, Gordon paints the small unspoken moments between people, the moments that often slip through the cracks, and the relationships that stand the test of time and are all the more beautiful for it. Of course, these are my thoughts and my words. Gordon simply says: ‘There is no point in copying what I see. I would be bored. I like painting what I would love to see’. Witty, irreverent, warm, and almost always self- effacing, Gordon’s company is as enjoyable as his paintings, which last year’s crowds of collectors, friends, family and former students attested to. We finish this introduction with his answer to one of my many practical questions about this year’s exhibition: ‘It’s your exhibition Eileadh, I just paint the silly pictures’. We hope you will join us at the Private View, for a lively and stimulating evening with this incredible artist and his silly (?) pictures.
Eileadh Swan Gallery Director
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