Marina Murvanidze Mitchell, Georgian American artist, explores the ambiguity of unknown spaces and experiences through constructed images using painting and photography as her main media. She recently returned to Tbilisi, Georgia after 27 years of leaving in the US and the UK.
Marina with her work. Photo by Laura Williams
Artist Statement
Movement, places and people who live outside their country of origin inspire my creativity. I am interested in how people adjust to change, how they experience the present as a memory from the past searching for familiar in the unknown.
This interest is reflected in my process-oriented work, be it constructed images or portraits. Photography generates an image, which after the moment of exposure, becomes the past. Painting, on the other hand, is a process where oil – a tangible medium - crafts new reality suggesting the present. I use photography as my initial medium. In constructed images, I extend it through merging with painting digitally to create a link between past and the present. In portraits, I have two or three live sittings after a photoshoot to render a realistic portrait of the subject’s personality. I often welcome Chance to play a role in my work. With constructed images chance creates a mystery that reflects the unknown challenges brought by change. And with portraits it can suggest a visual idea more closely associated with the subject’s otherwise hidden character.
I make art to inspire imagination, causing viewers to be as Bridget Riley once said, “in the state of receptive participation.”
Solo Exhibition
2023 Dare to…!: Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation, Tbilisi
Group Shows
2023 VICINITY: 785,500 m2 : Espacio Gallery, London
2023 WHY DO YOU DO IT? - Boomer Gallery, London
2023 UnCOMMON GROUNDS - The Koppel Project Station, London
2022 ART4US Itinerant: DC meets NA - Asilio Filangieri, Napoli
2022 PROGRESSION - DContemporary Gallery, London
2022 INHIBIT: SPACES, PLACES AND THE EVERYDAY - Crypt Gallery, London
2021 BEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD - Arts Club of Washington, DC
2021 Online Summer Exhibition 2021 - D31 Art Gallery, Doncaster
2021 Graduate Show 2021 - Art Academy London, London
2019 UNTITLED - Newington Gallery, London
2019 Art Academy Print Exhibition - Newington Library, London
2015 Leah Lopez Atelier Annual Exhibition - Salmagundi Club, NYC
Commissions
2019-present Portrait commissions
2023 Spectral Blackboard for London Insititute for Mathematical Sciences, Royal Institution
https://lims.ac.uk/events/art-of-mathematics/
2021 Photography for a video production of the multimedia piano recital “Reflection on Spectral Scriabin
- Eteri Andjaparidze, piano; Jennifer Tipton, lighting“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gol94bLfw7c
2012 Photography for the album cover “Eteri Andjaparidze LIVE AT ROUND TOP”
https://www.andjaparidze.com/recording
2011 Promotional photography for the "Spectral Scriabin” Poster and Stagebill at Yale Repertory
Theatre https://issuu.com/yalerep/docs/spectral_program-web
2010 Photography for the website of pianist Eteri Andjaparidze https://www.andjaparidze.com
Awards
2022 The Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) Art Award Artist 2022-2024 https://www.libertyspecialtymarkets.com/art-award/artist/marina-mitchell
Education
2017 - 2021 Art Academy London - BA (Hons) in Fine Art
2015 - 2016 Liah Lopez Atelier, New York, NY, and New York Academy of Art
1997 - 1998 Princeton University; MPP (MA in Public Policy)
1974 - 1979 Tbilisi State Institute of Foreign Languages; MA in English (summa cum laude)
Collections
In private and public collections in Georgia, UK, and USA
Journey into Art
My journey into art could be attributed to pure happenstance. I grew up in Georgia, a picturesque country of high mountains and subtropical seascapes known in the past as the “Riviera of the Soviet Union.” Later, while living in Princeton, NJ, USA, where I moved to earn my Master’s degree in Public Policy from Princeton University, I enrolled my then 13-year-old daughter Thea in art classes. After a few sessions, Thea lost her interest in art, and I decided to attend the remaining classes with the hope to re-inspire her. It happened very soon fortunately for her and unfortunately for me, since I had a chance to do only a couple of studies. However, the seed was planted and it did not go unnoticed by my husband, who presented me with a French easel for my next birthday. I started to paint sporadically, and only after moving to New York City ten years later, I finally made my way to taking art classes again: first at the New York Academy of Art, and then at Leah Lopez's Atelier. Having rediscovered the joy of oil painting and being fascinated by the process of creating my own colour palette, I knew that this time, no matter what, there would be no interruption in my pursuing Art.
Life before Art
Prio to her career in art Marina has more than two decades of experience in international development, management and conflict resolution. She was the founder and CEO of "Multiple Assistance for Georgia," one of the first non-governmental organizations in Georgia. Marina also has worked as a consultant to the Georgian Transportation Ministry; U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors; Deloitte & Touche; United Nations Development Programme; Save the Children; Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation); EastWest Institute and Maybach Foundation. She has been an active participant of the Track II diplomacy of the Georgian-Abkhazian peace process. Marina worked as a representative for an innovative piano theatre production "Spectral Scriabin" in performances presented by Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Broad Stage and other venues.