Dean Mitchell grew up in the 1970s South, in an all-Black, working-class neighborhood in Quincy, Florida, not far from Tallahassee. He was raised by his grandmother and, for a time, his great-grandmother, whose death when he was 6 left an indelible imprint on him.
“When my great-grandmother died, for a long time I didn’t understand where she went,” he says. “What did ‘she went to heaven’ mean? All I knew is we never got to see her again and I never looked at life the same way… I never saw it as a permanent fixture. In my world people leave and you never see them again.”
Grandmother, 1987, acrylic on board, 10 x 15 in. Courtesy of the artist.
The seeds for feelings of abandonment had already been planted by his mother and watered by his father. His mother got pregnant in college, the result of an affair with a married man who was also from Quincy. His mother fled to Pittsburgh while still pregnant with Mitchell, who she kept a secret from family and friends. When Mitchell’s grandmother did find out, she insisted her daughter come back, finish college and she would raise the child, who was not quite a year old. His mother out of the picture, Mitchell grew up around the corner from the parents of his biological father, who, upon visits home, would not acknowledge Mitchell as his son, despite it being common knowledge in the town.
This, of course, is a biography in broad strokes but it’s important in understanding Mitchell’s choice of subject matter: portraits of the sick and elderly, often his grandmother, aunts and uncles; rundown buildings and shotgun houses.
“I love things that are worn out and raggedy and torn down,” he says. “There has to be some underlying connection to that feeling of abandonment. In some way, maybe my picking my subject matter was really selecting myself and affirming my own existence.”
New Orleans, Higher Grounds, 2005, watercolor, 20 x 30 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Also affirmative of his existence is a retrospective of four decades of the artist’s work at the Museum of Art and Light in Manhattan, Kansas. Heritage & the Human Condition runs August 20, 2025, through March 9, 2026.
Erin Dragotto, the museum’s executive director, says, “Dean’s life experience growing up in the American South, family upbringing, and perception of the world coupled with artistic ability is what pushes Dean to reveal true portrayals of rural America. Dean’s importance as an American painter embraces yet extends beyond his cultural influence…When I look at Dean’s work, I see a true artist who can positively translate seminal moments of human emotion, reaching beyond a specified culture, and landing squarely inside humanity itself.”
Mitchell has worked across a variety of mediums, from watercolor and egg tempera to oils and acrylics. He paints figurative works, street scenes and still lifes, and his style ranges from the impressionistic and painterly, to the graphic and abstract, a variety driven by his desire to master any aspect of painting that he hasn’t already.
Carolyn, 2018, acrylic, 5 x 7½ in. Courtesy of the artist.
Despite his difficult childhood, Mitchell is incredibly upbeat and passionate about life and the hope that his art can contribute in some small way to making the world a better place.
“The only thing we truly own is time and we spend so much of it in a wasteful manner,” he says. “We are all just human beings made of flesh and blood who are going to die. I’m trying to show people this is the process of life…if I can do that with my artwork, if I can move people to a deeper place spiritually, if I can help in any to get us to treat each other any better, if I can make a small dent in that with this exhibition, I’ve done my job.” —
Heritage & the Human Condition
August 20, 2025-March 9, 2026
Museum of Art + Light
316 Pierre Street, Manhattan, KS 66502
(785) 775-5444
www.artlightmuseum.org
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