Works Exhibited
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Collectively, these moments become figments of an imaginative psychic state of being, one in which radiance, resistance, restraint, comfort, and full human agency exist.
—Tyler Mitchell
Gagosian is pleased to present Chrysalis, an exhibition of new photographs by Tyler Mitchell. Opening October 6, it will be the gallery’s first solo exhibition of works by Mitchell, and his first in London.
Mitchell’s photographs and videos propose a utopian vision of Black beauty, desire, and belonging. For Chrysalis, he has produced photographs of youthful subjects in nature. Shot on location in upstate New York and in studios in New York and London in 2022, the images allude to the contemporary landscape while reflecting on the history of photographic images of Black people, particularly in the American South. Playfully theatrical and surreal, the works focus on Black figures and the landscapes they inhabit, incorporating visual signifiers of spirituality, transformation, and aspiration.
Chrysalis presents images of Black men and women in idyllic states of leisure and repose, safe and unencumbered by social expectations. In a photograph that shares its title with the exhibition, a young man sleeps on a blanket-covered bed, within the protective cocoon of a mosquito net. A Glint of Possibility represents a figure on a tire swing suspended above the surface of a lake, frozen in perfect equilibrium. Treading shows a boy’s head emerging from the same lake as a large bunch of balloons floats in the image’s center.
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In Conversation
Tyler Mitchell and Zoé Whitley
Tyler Mitchell sat down with Zoé Whitley, director at Chisenhale Gallery in London, for a conversation as part of Frieze Masters Talks and in partnership with Gagosian. The two discussed Mitchell’s first solo presentation in London and with the gallery, Chrysalis, on view earlier this fall at Gagosian, Davies Street, London, and a special commission for Frieze Masters 2022 that reflected on his conceptual and editorial photography practices. His work reinterprets the tropes employed in both the Western canon of portraiture and the contemporary fashion magazine.
Tyler Mitchell: This Side of Paradise
Brendan Embser reports on his encounter with Tyler Mitchell’s newest series of photographs, addressing their aesthetic motifs and art-historical references, while charting the development of these works in relation to the photographer’s earlier projects.
Social Works II: Tyler Mitchell | A New Landscape
Tyler Mitchell speaks with Antwaun Sargent about Black representation, the diversity of Southern landscapes, and the importance of play in his new series of photographs. The conversation forms part of “Social Works II,” a supplement guest edited by Sargent for the Winter 2021 issue of the Quarterly.
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In Conversation
Tyler Mitchell
Zoé Whitley
Thursday, October 13, 2022, 6:30pm
Arts Club, London
www.frieze.com
Tyler Mitchell will be in conversation with Zoé Whitley, director at Chisenhale Gallery in London, as part of Frieze Masters Talks and in partnership with Gagosian. Their conversation will explore Mitchell’s new exhibition, Chrysalis, at Gagosian, Davies Street, London, and a special commission for this year’s edition of Frieze Masters that reflects on his conceptual and editorial photography practices. His work is rooted in reinterpreting the tropes employed in both the Western canon of portraiture and the contemporary fashion magazine.
Left: Tyler Mitchell. Photo: © Tyler Mitchell. Right: Zoé Whitley. Photo: James Gifford-Mead
