"The Outwin 2016" Finalist: Dean Mitchell

Out of over 2,500 entries in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, 43 artists have their work shown in the exhibition “The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today.” Read more about one of the finalists, Dean Mitchell.

What about the sitter inspired you?

Bob is a friend and has been for over 25 years. The man is an unfiltered soul who lives for art. He has never acquired any great sums of money from his efforts but has inspired me and many others. He taught for many years in the Denver area and educated me about African American artists and their place in the larger art world. Bob has inspired me with his intellect and conversation over the years. In some ways he is an outcast – a person who loves what he does but has been able to survive as a working class artist. I can think of no other living person to have hanging in the National Portrait Gallery. I hope in some way it’s a window into a powerful dignity that is so often overlooked based upon physical appearances. I myself have learned how appearances are deceptive and it is up to the artist to transcend a deeper truth, which I hope this portrait does.

How did your work develop from idea to execution?

I developed the work through drawings and sketches. I have also taken a number of photographs as research. I’m drawn by the psychological aspect of the space that pulls the persona together. It is rarely separate. I cannot have someone come sit in my studio … I have to occupy their space, their environment, in order to transcend their personal space. Otherwise, it is just another rendering.

What relationship do the materials have to the meaning?

Transparent watercolor, which is known as an unforgiving medium, is the largest body of my work and speaks to the unforgiving disenfranchisement of the images I paint in American culture. Transparent watercolor is in some ways a statement about the images themselves. It is a medium rarely highlighted in major museum exhibitions, but there is a deep truth to the man and the medium – transparency. Something we long for in modern day culture – a sense of connection.

How does the piece fit within your larger body of work?

The works I’ve created over the years have always dealt with the unheard voices in American society. I was raised by my grandmother who worked for very little, as did most of my family in the South. Those experiences have left an indelible mark on my soul. The power of the images are also based upon the space which the figure occupies. Be it a blank white background or environmental, these are abstract elements that enhance the power of the social experience.

You can see Mitchell’s work in “The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today,” up now through Jan. 8, 2017. Also, be sure to vote in our People’s Choice Competition.