February 20, 2013
Now Representing Ransom & Mitchell
News

We are thrilled to announce our official representation of the photo-illustration duo, Ransom & Mitchell. Stacey Ransom and Jason Mitchell (aka Ransom & Mitchell) create richly detailed photo-illustration tableaus and portraiture.

Last year Varnish presented Ransom & Mitchell's debut solo exhibition, Smoke & Mirrors to a packed house.

“Smoke & Mirrors” includes an array of photo portrait tableaus of some of the art world’s notorious, arranged on the decaying victorian walls they customized themselves. The centerpiece of the installation was the enormous fanged monster rose mounted on the wall with trailing rootlike tentacles running the length of the gallery. - Hi Fructose Magazine

Ransom & Mitchell’s love of Italian and Dutch Masters is evidenced by the evocative narratives and modeled lighting of their photo illustrative portraits and tableaus. The duo combines the production value of cinema, the drama of Renaissance era chiaroscuro and the intimacy of baring your soul to your best friend by actively collaborating with their subjects. Viewers are caught in a web of tension, voyeuristically watching the subjects, grandiose in bearing and manner, caught in a moment of vulnerability, revealing their essential humanness. Ransom & Mitchell are able to draw out these intimate moments by diving into the hearts and minds of their subjects, whether Artist or the concept of “Vanity”, making the photo illustrations resonate with both viewer and subject. Their visually stunning works, informed by professional backgrounds in the filmmaking world and a love of Renaissance master works, are the end result of their own creative collaboration and the collaborations with and intense study of the art world notables they photograph.

“At the end of the day, we strive to create portraits that are deeply heartfelt and meaningful,” says Ransom. “It has been an extraordinarily rewarding and stimulating exercise to be able to collaborate with other creatives who were willing to throw inhibitions out the window and embrace the true nature of story telling.”

Portrait Commissions by Ransom & Mitchell are available through the gallery. Please contact us for detailed information.

For ArtPadSF 2012 at the Phoenix Hotel, we asked Ransom & Mitchell to create a special photo booth installation to pay tribute to the hotel’s history and the edginess of the San Francisco art fair. Ransom & Mitchell gave us the most instagram’erific stop on your wild weekend art tour – The Pretty Vacant Photo Booth. "We thought the best way to do this would be to lovingly recreate the Chelsea hotel bathroom where Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sid Vicious, tragically bled to death."-Stacey Ransom

See new works by Ransom & Mitchell in our upcoming 10-year anniversary show, DECADE-1.

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November 27, 2012
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December 22, 2011
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September 6, 2011