We’re delighted to announce that 12 new limited edition prints from Gavin Mitchell are now available exclusively at Enter Gallery.

These prints make up Mitchell’s Fourth Wall series, in which he juxtaposes film stills from classic B-movies of the fifties and sixties with his personal collection of vintage postcards.

In today’s blog, we’re chatting to Mitchell to learn more about this series of collages and the inspirations behind the works.

 

 

Movie Magic

The idea for the Fourth Wall series was born when Mitchell’s rare print dealer sourced him a plastic bag full of charmingly-dog-eared black and white movie stills.

These antique images, which were once used to promote the films to publications, are a nod to a golden age of cinema and to the cult of celebrity that those of us in the West love to indulge.

 

 

In teaming these film stills with imagery that explores Eastern and Western cultures, Mitchell creates new and compelling fictional landscapes that override the reality of the two clashing cultures. As he explains:

 

“The series is a suspension of disbelief that uses imaginary boundaries to persuade the audience that they are observing real events.”

 

As its name suggests, Mitchell’s Fourth Wall series is based on the principle of the same name from TV and film, referencing instances when a character breaks from the story to acknowledge the audience.

 

“In the series, I convert or push through the Fourth Wall, breaking the piece into two different scenes.”

 

 

Culture Clash

Mitchell is best-known for his East Meets West series, which teams images of geisha with playful nods to Western culture, whether that’s copies of Playboy Magazine, a boom box or a space hopper.

 

 

In the Fourth Wall series, Mitchell also uses images of geisha sourced from the same collection of vintage Japanese postcards that supplied his East Meets West collection.

Speaking of the cultures depicted, Mitchell comments: “The series is all about different cultures – British and American, Cowboys and Indians, Japanese and American. Whatever suits.”

 

Perfect Placement

For this new series, the placing of each image is key to creating the desired effect, and as Mitchell reveals: “It took a lot of trial and error and I have a huge number of similar images that didn’t quite make the cut!”

 

 

“The process of creating these pieces was largely serendipitous, because it depended on finding two images that blend into one another. For example, I loved the image of the chief on the mountain overlooking a caravan of travellers, and then I found this old postcard of New York and it slotted together perfectly.”

 

 

Speaking of the piece, The Very Latest Style (pictured above), Mitchell explains how he approaches melding the two images together:

 

“The woman on the horse is a Mexican actress from The High Chapperal – an American Western drama set in the 1870’s. To create the piece, I placed the photograph of her beneath the image of the geisha, and then digitally rubbed away the borders of the image so that they could become one.”  

 

“By setting the images at certain angles, it’s clear that the artwork is created from two different sources. It also allows me to show off how the photographs have aged. The fact that they are a little dog-eared at the edges comes across beautifully in the prints.”

 

When Worlds Collide

Speaking about the genesis for all his works, Mitchell tells us: “All of my work emanates from found materials and I go from there, always looking for the story.”

 

 

Speaking of Sons of Reno (pictured above), Mitchell explains how he structures the piece to imbue it with new meaning.

 

“In this piece, the hero image is the black and white image of two people walking into the distance. The strip of colour in the middle is the start of the 30s postcard of Reno, made from hyper-colour linen, that provides the scene into which the couple are walking.”

 

"Reno is an interesting place. It’s a casino town split over Nevada and California. People are only allowed to gamble on the Nevada side. Here, I have framed the piece so that the couple are walking from the rural landscape of the California side into the hyper-colour of the Nevada side where they are allowed to gamble.”

 

Gavin Mitchell’s Fourth Wall series is now available exclusively at Enter Gallery. Explore the whole collection here.