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Article published Jan 4, 2007
How Mutch! Abstract painter Steven Mutch opens
exhibit at KAA
By Kate Betton
Contributing Writer
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| On New Year's Eve, as the fireworks were going
off in Portsmouth, admirers of abstract art were listening to the melodic
strains of elementary-school violin virtuosos and discussing art theory,
dead cockroaches and the importance of proper lighting in the gallery of
the Kittery Art Association. The event was in celebration of the exhibit
by abstract artist Steven Mutch.Mutch, who runs a flooring business in Eliot,
Maine, may at first seem like an unlikely candidate to create works like
those of edgy, post-modern New York painters, but it's soon apparent his
artistry and craftsmanship work hand in hand. "I didn't know that I
would ever make paintings and sell art, but I always enjoyed painting,"
Mutch says, after sharing that he began painting in kindergarten. "People
would ask me if they were for sale ... in my store," recalls Mutch,
"So that kind of started the selling. |
Steven Mutch
and his daughter, Isabella, pose in front of Mutch's "Mirror Man,"
a work in acrylic with mirrors and stove elements. (Kate Betton/Courtesy
photo)
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| "I haven't made a lot of contacts, that way,
in the art world," he laughs. "My ultimate goal would be (for
my art) to go to New York, or Boston ... but there are people here in the
Seacoast that like abstract art as well." Mutch's talent is self-taught.
He explains, "I never studied formally. I have books and books on art,
artists, I do research on the internet ... I've taken some courses, but
never any formal education. |
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Courtesy photo"The
Watcher," oil on linen, 23"x23," by Steven Mutch.
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"It can go both ways, anyone who is formally educated and has
talent as well is going to be a great artist, but I don't think it's necessary,
I think that art should speak for itself ... It's that perception of art.
It's not about what I paint, it's what you think (seeing it). "If
there was no one else on Earth to see these things, they wouldn't really
matter. Except to myself, because I enjoy it. My house is full of my artwork,
but it's a better feeling to know somebody else enjoys it. The worst thing
anyone can do is just walk by an ignore it. But, that happens."
At the event, no one is simply walking by. On the staircase, Amy and
Tim O'Connell of Dover check out "Bella Luna," a representation
of our planet in space. |
"It really captures the Earth," Amy says. "It's
almost like a satellite. I think it's gorgeous." "It's a view
from the sun," Tim joins, "since there's the Earth and the moon."
"His stuff can get pretty wild," Amy ruminates of Mutch, "but
there's so much in each piece, that you can sit there and stare at it
for half an hour."Large pieces feature prominently, on a variety
of canvases. Mutch makes his own canvases by stretching canvas over hardwood
flooring or palettes. Sometimes he simply uses hardwood flooring. For
the painting "Mo," Mutch used carpet padding under the canvas
to give it more texture, a "nice smooth look." He's also used
heating elements, money, shells, broken mirrors or even things discarded
as trash.
Mutch is excited about the event and the continuing abstract show so
he can, as he says, "show my new stuff. It's all fairly new. There's
a couple here that were in my last show ... but all the other ones are
new and I love to see the reaction of people." One painting that
quickly draws mixed reaction is "Cosmo," which features a skeleton
in a Santa hat on hardwood. I had a woman that was really upset by my
skeleton Santa, she didn't like it at all ... she was a real Christmas
person I guess, she said, 'What is up with this Santa? How could you do
that to Santa?' "I just said, it's nothing personal about Santa,
let's just say the skeleton was at a party somewhere and someone put the
Santa hat on him ... most of the time I don't plan on what I'm going to
paint, it just spontaneously happens." |
| Tim and Amy O'Connell are enjoying the unique elements of the display
as they look at "Red Eyed Roach," a painting attributed to "Mutch"
without stating which exact member of the Mutch family created it. "The
roach jumped out and grabbed Amy," Tim laughs. "I think it's real,"
Amy adds of the actual dead husk of cockroach that has been turned into
three dimensional art on canvas. Amy points out that the piece includes
a dollar bill, and above it, a red eye in the middle of a triangle, just
like the eye hidden on the other side of a dollar bill. Mutch's youngest
daughter, Isabella, 9, and her friend Hannah Burke, 10, put their many years
of violin practice to work at the event. Isabella even has a painting of
her own on display, not her first at the Kittery Art Association. "At
school, at art, sometimes we have our paintings hung up here," Isabella
says. "I made one with this ice skating person, and I had tin foil,
and I put it on as a rink." Steven Mutch fosters a love of art in his
children and others through a summer art camp. |
Courtesy photo"Blue Mermaid,"
oil and pistachios on canvas, by Steven Mutch.
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"Once a year I have a week long camp for four to seven
kids. They get two pieces of artwork out of it that's worthy of hanging,
it's not just little pieces of paper. All of the kids have them hanging
in their room, or living room." Isabella is enthusiastic about the
art camp experience. "Once we did this cool thing, we took our paintings
to the beach, and we dunked them in water for a few seconds. Me and my friend,
we put sand on our painting, and we dunked them, and they came out really
cool."
"That's supposed to be me," Isabella points to
an abstract profile, grinning. "It's not a real likeness," Steven
Mutch grins back. He admits the painting was part of the experiment of taking
a painting to the ocean and letting a wave pass over it — a practice
he stopped out of concern for the environment. |
| Mutch has to balance work, family and art. "I definitely get lost
in my painting," he says of losing track of time while in the midst
of a work. "That happens a lot, it's usually when I just feel like
painting, I'm driven to it ... it's hard to get up and say 'Oh, I'm going
to go paint today.' I mean, I've done that too, but it's better when just
all of a sudden I have to paint. No matter where I am I just have to get
back to my studio and get lost in it." Upstairs, art aficionados are
getting lost in art theory discussing the nudes. Roy Rigordaeva ruminates
on the abstract nude "Z." "Here's the deal," Rigordaeva
starts thoughtfully, "this woman, if she really exists, she's an artifice
... but there's a tranquility in it. That's what I don't understand. If
it were simple, she would be more lifelike. Because then I could dismiss
her. But that peacefulness in her face makes me not understand the abstraction.
Despite all the artifice, she's human ... the whole picture takes you up
and drops you, right on the edge. If art isn't hitting your edges, it's
not art. It's K-Mart." Rigordaeva admires Mutch for being "brave"
enough to "paint without ego." |
"Dancer"
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Roy Rigordaeva and wife Mary Miles toast
the skeleton Santa in the Mutch piece "Cosmo," painted on
wooden flooring. Kate Betton/ Democrat photo
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Mutch will quickly credit many great artist who have inspired him, such
as Salvador Dali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and representational artists like
DaVinci, the Wyeths and Norman Rockwell. He says of his own work, "I'm
trying to get some kind of a common signature going through my work ...
I love drips. It's usually when I get tired of what I'm painting, I'll cover
it up with drips, work around them or with them." He also likes to
add geometrics "for another layer. I like to use color, juxtapose color
so it really pops out." Several of the paintings also feature teeth.
Mutch and Isabella point out "Mo," a painting with teeth and a
mouth inspired by the mind of their black Lab, Moses. "He's a wild,
crazy dog," Mutch says with a smile. "A lot of people wouldn't
even see that it's a dog."
Interested art fans will have until Jan. 28 to see whatever they may find
in Mutch's work at the Kittery Art Association. |
Steven Mutch's exhibition at the Kittery
Art Association will be open Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m., Saturdays from
noon to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The Association is located
at 8 Coleman Ave., off of Route 103 in Kittery Point. |
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Mutch's studio, Art Studio #54,
is located on Route 236 in Eliot, Maine and is available for viewing by
appointment only.To view the studio or request commissioned work, Mutch
can be reached at 207-252-3511. For more information, visit Mutch's website,
www.mutchfineart.com.
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| MFA |
Foster Art
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