Drawn by the endless offerings of painting as a medium, Mitchell Villa’s work inhabits an area of hybridity invoking the contemporary by employing and reinterpreting the historical. His process begins months before his brush makes the initial mark on his canvas, with each composition beginning with a singular idea. Rooted in the expression of figurative painting, he draws from a variety of art historical movements, including Rococo and Baroque, to underpin both his aesthetic modalities and conceptual leanings.

Villa’s paintings develop from a series of sketches, studies, and collages, transitioning into painstakingly detailed photoshoots using live models and props, where he articulates his vision for his larger-than-life paintings by hand-selecting each element of the composition. Thus resulting in a familiar, yet surreal sensibility verging on the excessive.

Villa’s subject matter is deeply personal: his thoughts, experiences, and feelings compressed into chaotically ephemeral images. He approaches painting without an agenda, moving away from meaning-making and letting his subconscious filter his practice. Although detailed, his painterly and fluid style evokes a sense of memory, rejecting linear concepts of time, and thereby supporting the subconscious leanings of his practice. Viewing one of his monumental paintings with their familiar yet jarring references to old masters is nostalgic and recalls the imagery of feverish dreams: watery but imbued with vibrant movement, layered with fantastical, intuitive archetypes, bridging the gaps between what is real and what is remembered. This sense of turbulent escapism moves the viewer away from the mundane, and acts as a shot of adrenaline to the senses.

Mitchell Villa is a self-taught artist residing on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.