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Elefant Medium, Jeffry Mitchell


  • PDX CONTEMPORARY ART 1825 Northwest Vaughn Street, Suite B Portland, OR, 97209 United States (map)

PDX CONTEMPORARY ART is pleased to present Elefant Medium. A solo exhibition of new work by artist Jeffry Mitchell. Elephant (Medium) is one of a family of fonts and is a reworking of a traditional English extra bold serif style. Mitchell is drawn to its eye-catching style and graphic quality, as well as to its name. The elephant has been a beloved subject matter for Jeffry Mitchell’s artwork for four decades.

The exhibition focuses on the way that graphic design and interior spaces create space, fields that make us feel. As well as the way that subject matter and materials, like elephants and flowers, clay and wood, afford joy, generosity, and enthusiasm. Elefant Medium features furniture made from wood and ceramic, housewares, lamps, and drawings and prints displayed in wonderfully elaborate, handcrafted wooden and porcelain frames. The work and the transformative benevolence of craft create the field, the flow, the space, and the possibility of ecstasy.

Jeffry Mitchell’s primary medium is ceramic, and he is well-versed in its varied traditions around the globe. His approach to working is direct, often eschewing refinements that commonly accompany many ceramic processes. The resulting pieces radiate an exuberant, unbridled immediacy. He feels that this unfettered approach is relatable to our shared human experience. The imagery that he uses is also very accessible. Bears, elefants (he prefers ‘f’ to ‘ph’), bunnies, and flowers appear over and over in his work and though they relate to his own personal story he feels that these too spring from an early and universally familiar place. Mitchell seeks to tap into and broadcast a sense of vitality whether it be joyful or colored with a more complex mix of emotions.

Mitchell lives and works in Portland, OR, and has been an Artist in Residence at the Archie Bray Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, the MacDowell Colony, Zentrum für Keramik, Ting Ying Studios, and Township10. He has been a guest lecturer and critic at Harvard University, and a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award, the Neddy Artist Fellowship Award, and the Contemporary Northwest Art Award. His work has been the subject of a solo exhibition in the Workspace Gallery at the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York, NY), and a mid-career retrospective at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). He has been included in exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA), the Fabric Workshop (Philadelphia, PA), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), Missoula Art Museum (Missoula, MT), PDX CONTEMPORARY ART (Portland, OR), James Harris Gallery (Seattle, WA), Morgan Lehman (New York, NY), Ambach & Rice (Los Angeles, CA), Rena Bransten (San Francisco, CA), Kittredge Gallery (Tacoma, WA), Frye Art Museum (Seattle, WA), Museum of Contemporary Art (Detroit, MI), Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA), Western Bridge (Seattle, WA), World Ceramic Center (Icheon City, South Korea), CoCA (Seattle, WA), Bellevue Art Museum (Bellevue, WA), and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), among others.

His work is featured in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Microsoft (Redmond, WA), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), New York Public Library (New York, NY), Philadelphia Art Museum (Philadelphia, PA), Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR), Safeco Corporation (Seattle, WA), Tacoma Art Museum (Tacoma, WA), Contemporary Museum (Honolulu, HI), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX), Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA), Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC), Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery (Saratoga Springs, NY), Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA), and Whatcom Museum (Bellingham, WA) among others, as well as numerous private collections.

Mitchell’s work has been featured in a wide variety of publications over the years, including art ltd., LA Times, Art in America, The Seattle Times, T Magazine, The Oregonian, Portland Mercury, The Stranger, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Artnet, and Reflex.

Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm