“Connective Tissue” (2021) by Tyler Mitchell
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
THE PASTORAL AMERICAN SOUTH conjures complex histories, emotions, and experiences for Black people. Family traditions and connections to the land are tempered by racial terror and generational discrimination. Tyler Mitchell focuses nearly exclusively on the blissful moments and the power of freedom, exemplified by “Connective Tissue” (2020) a tender image of a father lying on his back with his young son resting playfully on his bare chest.
Mitchell joined Jack Shainman last September. For his first solo exhibition with the gallery, the fast-rising photographer is showcasing two series in two locations. “Dreaming in Real Time” was created when he was finally able to reunite with his family in Georgia, after being isolated from them during the pandemic. Working with subjects in the Greater Atlanta area, he made a new body of work that channels elements of refuge and rootedness and references the legacy of redlining.
He is also presenting “I Can Make You Feel Good,” his best-known series, which was the subject of his first solo museum exhibition and first major monograph. Capturing real and imagined pleasures, often centering highly styled and fashion-forward subjects, he set about constructing a Black utopia one picture at a time. The series is on view with a selection of new images that expand the project and are shown publicly for the first time. Born in Atlanta, Mitchell lives and works in Brooklyn, N.Y. CT
Tyler Mitchell: “Dreaming in Real Time” and “I Can Make You Feel Good” are on view at Jack Shainman Gallery, 513 West 20th Street and 524 West 24th Street, New York, N.Y., from Sept. 9-Oct. 30, 2021
FIND MORE about the exhibitions
West 20th Street: “Dreaming in Real Time”
Installation view of “Tyler Mitchell: Dreaming in Real Time,” Jack Shainman Gallery, West 20th Street, New York, N.Y., Sept. 9-Oct. 30, 2021. Shown, at center, “Albany, Georgia” (2021). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, Installation view of “Impact,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 40 x 49.766 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Riverside Scene,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 63 x 78.47 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Nap,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 30 x 37.418 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Chalk,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 63 x 78.544 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Tangled,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 63 x 78.16 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, Installation view of “Gingham Boys,” 2021. Shown, at right, “Fly Fly Fly” (2021). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, Detail of “Gingham Boys,” 2021 (dye sublimation on fabric). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
Installation view of “Tyler Mitchell: Dreaming in Real Time,” Jack Shainman Gallery, West 20th Street, New York, N.Y., Sept. 9-Oct. 30, 2021. Shown, from left, “Wings” (2021), “The Fish” (2021), and “Construction” (2021). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Albany, Georgia,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 63 x 81.535 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Redlining (Diptych),” 2021 (archival pigment prints, Left Image: 30 x 37.39 inches), Unframed). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, Installation view of “Redlining (Diptych),” 2021 (archival pigment prints). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TOP IMAGE: TYLER MITCHELL, “Connective Tissue,” 2021 (archival pigment print, 30 x 37.305 inches, unframed). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
West 24th Street: “I Can Make You Feel Good”
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Stilts II),” 2019 (wall vinyl, 131.179 x 157.647 inches / 333.19466 x 400.42338 cm), (Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Lunarlander),” 2018 (archival pigment print, 90 x 59.189 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
Installation view of “Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good,” Jack Shainman Gallery, West 24th Street, New York, N.Y., Sept. 9-Oct. 30, 2021. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Topanga, Hands),” 2017 (archival pigment print, 73.887 x 59 inches / 187.673 x 149.86 cm), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, Installation view of “Untitled (Stilts II),” 2019 (wall vinyl, 131.179 x 157.647 inches / 333.19466 x 400.42338 cm), (Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Blue Boy),” 2021 (archival pigment print, 25 x 19.742 inches / 63.5 x 50.14468 cm), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Idyllic Space Film Still),” 2019 (archival pigment print, 20.25 x 36 inches / 51.435 x 91.44 cm), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Still from Chasing Pink, Found Red),” 2017 (archival pigment print, 20.251 x 36 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Eyelash),” 2019 (archival pigment print, 24 x 19.322 inches / 60.96 x 49.07788 cm), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
Installation view of “Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good,” Jack Shainman Gallery, West 24th Street, New York, N.Y., Sept. 9-Oct. 30, 2021. Shown, from left, “Time for a New Sky” (2020) and “Untitled (Eyelash)” (2019). | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (New Royals),” 2018 (archival pigment print, 20 x 15.908 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
Installation view of “Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good,” Jack Shainman Gallery, West 24th Street, New York, N.Y., Sept. 9-Oct. 30, 2021. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Untitled (Boy in Morocco),” 2018 (archival pigment print, 24 x 19.586 inches). Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
TYLER MITCHELL, “Time for a New Sky,” 2020 (archival pigment print, 55 x 68.5 inches), Unframed. | © Tyler Mitchell, Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
FIND MORE Tyler Mitchell is a 2020 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow. The honor supports a new exhibition project. Mitchell’s show, “An Imaginative Arrangement of the Things Before Me,” is currently on view at the foundation in Pleasantville, N.Y., through Jan. 2, 2022
FIND MORE Tyler Mitchell will be in conversation with photographer, scholar and educator Deborah Wills on Oct. 28, discussing his Gordon Parks show, which Willis curated.
BOOKSHELF
“Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good” accompanies the artist’s first solo exhibition presented at FOAM in Amsterdam and the International Center of Photography in New York. A striking portrait by Tyler Mitchell covers “The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion.” The volume showcases Mitchell’s work along with 14 other rising fashion photographers and accompanies a traveling exhibition organized by the Aperture Foundation.
