Local Artist Series // Mitch Cheesman

Who are you and what do you create?

I’m Mitchell Luke Cheesman, 21, born in Brisbane but I now reside in Kawana, Sunshine Coast. I paint and sculpt oil paintings, but also use other mediums including oil stick, paper, pencil, even peculiar dried-up chunks of paint off the studio floor, that have been trodden on for who knows how long. Dabbling with new mediums & techniques keeps the creative process miles away from the monotonous zone, and it’s always something to look forward to. Whether it works out or not, who cares.

What materials and techniques do you use?
The main technique I use whilst painting is neo-expressionism. I paint quite fast, scooping blobs of oil paint off one of the many palettes I have around the studio onto the canvas. I really admire the spillages and paint splatters that often occur in this process. It keeps the painting raw, and the mistakes often end up looking more intriguing than a section of the painting that was intentional – most of the time ending up with a very conceptual piece of work.

What kind of inspirations go into your work?
The pieces I end up with, are inspired by the music I listen to. I listen to a lot of Miles, Coltrane & Bill Evans, and certain songs go hand in hand with my painting – maybe it’s the same stroke I make on the canvas with my palette knife. Other sources of inspiration are my surroundings, like things I might take in walking down a street, or drawing new ideas with pencil & paper. And of course, other artists, past & present, always get me out of bed in the morning.

In what space do you like to create most?
My favourite place for my ideas to spill out would have to be at home on my old couch, maybe listening to some instruments come together, and scribbling lines on paper.

What has been your favourite or most important work to date?
My most important work is always the most recent, because that’s where you’re at – you aren’t any more advanced than what you’re creating in that given moment. With the exception of a collage piece I did a few months ago for artist, Ray Johnson’s 26th Anniversary since his passing. That piece was definitely a deep body of work I’ve done throughout my career. He was a collagist from New York.

To see more of Mitch’s work, head across to his Instagram.