Anthony Mitri, photo courtesy of the artist
Anthony Mitri's meticulous, life-like charcoal drawings, executed with exceptional patience and skill, include portrayals of the French countryside, urban Paris and New York City, subjects drawn from in and around his home town of Cleveland, Ohio, as well as other, diverse subject matter. Each charcoal is the representation of a personal, emotional experience bound to the location depicted.
Photographs, which Mitri takes at each location, help him recall his time spent in such places. These images also serve as guidelines, enabling him to outline the compositional elements of his subjects by way of an under-drawing, after which lighting and the creation of an appropriate mood become his primary focus.
More than photographs, however, Mitri’s own indelible memories of each location serve as his primary source material. This could include certain sounds and smells, as well as all the related circumstances in his life which colored his perceptions and influenced his emotions at that particular time and place.
The artist has said that “The experience of having been there is crucial to these pictures; the process of rendering a drawing becomes an extended moment of memory, the finished piece, a memoir in charcoal”. In describing his feelings about the work, Mitri quotes the poet William Wordsworth who wrote of an “emotion recollected in tranquility”.
Mitri attended the Cooper School of Art in Cleveland, Ohio and went on to the Athenaeum School of Fine Art in La Jolla, California. Since then he has been the subject of numerous one-person exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, Nashville, and in Deauville, France. Forum Gallery has held two, one-person exhibitions of Mitri's work (2007 and 2013). His work has been included in countless group exhibitions and art fairs, examples of which can be found in the permanent collection of the The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, as well as numerous private collections throughout the United States and Europe. He is the recipient of two Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grants (2010 and 2013), two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants (2006 and 2013), and is included in the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grantee Image Collection.
Anthony Mitri currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio and is represented by Forum Gallery.
Anthony Mitri - Artist Statement
Having spent many years working in various drawing and paint media, I began working almost exclusively with charcoal in a realistic style in early 2002. While different kinds of charcoal naturally possess different color temperatures, I have found color media to distract from the effect I wish to achieve with charcoal.
With regard to choice of subject matter for the drawings, my thoughts have begun transitioning away from a contemporary treatment of cityscape, landscape, and still life solely in a realistic style toward experimenting, as well, with abstraction of these same subjects.
Working from photographs I have taken of a given subject is crucial to the work. In addition to providing reference for underdrawings, these photos preserve a collection of memories which inform my reconstruction in charcoal of that subject matter. This could include visual mental imagery, as well as all the life circumstances which colored my perceptions and influenced my emotions at that particular time and place. I meticulously build each drawing over a lengthy period of time. This extended process allows me to fully immerse myself in a particular memory in order to explore its emotional depth until the desired feeling permeates the entire image. The process of rendering a drawing from photos I have taken thus represents a sort of extended moment of memory, the finished piece, a memoir in charcoal.
I generally avoid including people in my drawings, as it is not my intent to imply or to create any definitive narrative. This is significant to my attempts at achieving an air of contemplative quiet in a composition. The viewer is free to infer meaning or simply rest in its absence.
In a world inundated by the ubiquitous fog of social media, I myself find relief in these uninhabited compositions. My hope is that on contemplating a drawing a viewer may for their own reasons likewise find solace within such a two-dimensional space.