Ariel Mitchell

Ariel Mitchell (b. 1985 Stonington, CT.)  grew up painting in her mother’s studio, and exploring the woods behind their house with the family dogs. After college she lived in San Diego before moving abroad to Norway, where she taught yoga. She has worked for many artists, including Jeff Koons, before deciding to obtain her MFA. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, one-year old daughter, and pug.

Growing up in the woods allowed me to develop a relationship with nature. Studying the hairs in a moss bed or investigating the multi-colored flecks that make up a granite slab, I became obsessed with details. I found villages in the nook of a tree branch and cities under logs, and the forest itself was an entire universe.

My work is an investigation into the space between memory and language. The paintings unfold from memory to words to marks, in a process I call “building the scaffolding”. An intangible memory is bolstered by words, resulting in the painting’s title. Colors and composition are decided upon, and I use a variety of marks to form the painting’s vernacular. Using a range of brushes and working in layers, the marks emanate from a center point, making their way across the canvas, overlapping as they go. Working on raw linen, the composition is made up of dense areas, leaving the edges bare. Colors emerge and dissipate, suggesting each painting is its own contained system.

 EDUCATION 2021 MFA, Hunter College, New York, NY

2009 Post-Baccalaureate, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

2007 BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 A Woolly Reasoning, Project Room at Broadway Gallery, New York, NY

2015 Woven Thread, Fine and Raw, Brooklyn,NY

2013 AMERICAN CHI, BLOKK, Bergen, Norway

2011 How We Explore, Alexey von Schlippe Gallery, Groton, CT. Curated by David Madsci Good Night,

I Will Leave the Sun on For You, Arteles, Helsinki, Finland. Curated by Pekka Ruuska

GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2022 Unfurled, curated by Dana Notine, Cody Wyckoff, Brooklyn, NY

Patriot, curated by Jamian Juliano-Villani, O’flahertys, New York, NY

Life, Death, Hereafter, curated by Jenny Mushkin-Goldman, St. Peter’s Church, New York, NY

2021 HEAVEN, MFA Thesis show, Hunter Art Gallery, New York, NY

2019 Seconds, Group show at Hunter Art Gallery, New York, NY

2019 Leyline of Anticipation, Puppy American, New York, NY, curated by Matt Jones 2019

A Portrait Party, BoweryShed, New York, NY, curated by Patrick Meagher

2017 Member's Invitational, Equity Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Eileen Jeng, Benjamin Sutton, and Dexter Wimberly

2015 DoppleStandard, 103 Allen, New York, NY, curated by Andy Chow

2013 Uncommon Ground, SiM Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

2012 BLOKK by BLOKK, Bergen Norway, curated by Linda Trengereid

2010 3rd Coast National, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, August, GA

Confluent Forms: UCSD and MICA, Rose Gallery, San Diego, CA

California Visual Artists, 2nd City Council, Long Beach, CA 

2009 Bulgaria: Then and Now, Hygienic Gallery, New London, CT

2008 Post-Baccalaureate Show, Mission Hill Gallery, Boston, MA

 LECTURES

2023 An Evening with Ariel Mitchell, Q and A with Anakena Paddon, The Ned Nomad, New York,NY

2022 Life, Death, Hereafter: a panel discussion with Jenny Mushkin-Goldman

2008 Confluent Forms Panel Discussion, Francis Parker School, San Diego, CA

RESIDENCIES

2013 SiM Residency, Reykjavik, Iceland, January

2011 Arteles Creative Center, Haukijarvi, Finland, April

2008 Griffis/Orpheus Foundation, Serafimovo, Bulgaria, July/August

2007 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, September

PRESS

2023 ArtNews IG Shows to See Right Now, April 13th-May 13th IG @TwoCoatsofPaint, April 13th-May 13th

2022 Forbes Magazine, A Look Inside Newly Opened The Ned Nomad, by Amanda Lauren

2022 Whitehot Magazine, Life, Death, Hereafter, by Vittoria Benzine

2021 Spotlight at Hauser and Wirth

2013 ROV 4, published by Sturla Heggdalsvik, Bergen, Norway

2011 Studio Visit, published by Open Studio Press, Boston, MA

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