Arlene Chiqui Guerrero Interviews Artist Mitchell Poor
May 3, 2013
"Whenever I paint I feel like I fuse into nature"
Mitchell Poor
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: When did you discover your talent in Painting?
Mitchell Poor: I was always an artist, drawing everywhere I went. when I was fourteen I was introduced to painting in school. It has been a reliable form of self discovery ever since then.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Who inspired you?
Mitchell Poor: My grandmother was an artist, she worked with pastels in the basement . She enjoyed doing portraits and landscapes. She was a persuasive influence.. suggesting off the wall techniques to me. Tricks like drawing things upside down and using a mirror to view your work. My grandfather was a dentist and traded dental work for Haitian masks and sculptures. His waiting room and office had an earth vibe.
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| Lovers among Lilacs. Marc Chagall |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: What was the very first painting you fell in love with?
Mitchell Poor: The very first painting I sincerely fell in love with happen when I was 36. I was researching Marc Chagall and came across Lovers among Lilacs. It was the very first painting I could come back to. I wound not have expected the affair to last as long as it has.. it's an honest painting I can count on. It reminds me of my younger days that are gone.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Explain in your own words the 'Chaos Theory'
Mitchell Poor: I don't know..a mutation attacking an expectation.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: What is your process like when you start painting?
Mitchell Poor: It's similar to cracking eggs together to make an omelette. It's a mess with accidental backgrounds. I rely on my subconscious to produce certain results and fill in certain blanks as the painting is happening.
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| Visions in a Cave Mitchell Poor Angela Marie MacDougall Collection |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: What are your energy colors?
Mitchell Poor: That is always changing. The colors I care about deeply are impressions I see in ordinary activities. They get recorded and stored away. I'm always surprised where they come from. A spring flower, a fall afternoon ..a full moon in winter.. these colors have very potent effects on my feelings and memories.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: What do you want people to know about your paintings?
Mitchell Poor: My paintings are visual poems, allegories and hallucinations. One women who bought a painting from me said my paintings were conscious because of the eyes. Who knows. The Northwest Coast Natives have a real cool visual tradition that has been a source of inspiration for me.
Mitchell Poor: That is always changing. The colors I care about deeply are impressions I see in ordinary activities. They get recorded and stored away. I'm always surprised where they come from. A spring flower, a fall afternoon ..a full moon in winter.. these colors have very potent effects on my feelings and memories.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: What do you want people to know about your paintings?
Mitchell Poor: My paintings are visual poems, allegories and hallucinations. One women who bought a painting from me said my paintings were conscious because of the eyes. Who knows. The Northwest Coast Natives have a real cool visual tradition that has been a source of inspiration for me.
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| Bill Reid Xhuwaji / Haida Grizzly Bear |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: I know you support Women Against Domestic Abuse. You gave me 14 paintings to donate to my choice of charity here in Honolulu..What do you think is the best artistic way to heal a women whose experienced domestic violence?
Mitchell Poor: I think there are a lot of different solutions. Art therapy can be one avenue of finding meaning and self worth. We all want the feeling of being in love with life. Painting is like alchemy, people who have lost confidence can regain a personal power by just painting an unfilled surface with color..and feel a sense of satisfaction.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Who are major local Missoula Artist's you like and what do you learn from them?
Mitchell Poor: The two Missoulan artists I really enjoy are Bill Ohrmann and Theo Ellesworth. Bill Ohrmann is in his 90's and has been around the longest I find his narratives grotesque and sarcastic. Bill is not afraid to work with difficult feelings..sometimes by laughing at them.
Theo Ellsworth work is extremely unusual and his talent very rare. He has a very fruitful and patient awareness with his own process. Theo's ability to concentrate on detail is remarkable.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Can you share your knowledge and experience in animism?
Mitchell Poor: When I was a kid I had a recurring condition of pareidolia , I saw networks of figures and faces camouflaged in every surface..to my child like mind, there appeared to be a plural agency of beings without any central authority concealed in patterns and objects . I learned later that this was a primitive or original religious experience of animism. I don't consider the child like animistic experience as an abnormality. I think the temporal lobes in the brain behave differently in children and traditional indigenous people. The best example of animism is the transit the Aborigines called dreamtime.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Thoughts on Shamanism?
Mitchell Poor: To me, a shaman or totem minister represents a person who can use their will to direct nature(a healer). They appear to command events. They may have birth defects or have had a head injury that changed their ordinary perception. By tradition and ruling class, shaman priests induce meaningful coincidences by using hypnosis, theatrics or psychoactive chemicals.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Thoughts on Spirituality?
Mitchell Poor: I think the cosmos will go on with or without us. Life will live and change shape. Time will always continue. Space will always get smaller and bigger. There probably isn't anything to really worry about. I don't have a connection with any religion, to me it's fraudulent. Making art is the best method for self discovery for me.
Mitchell Poor: I think there are a lot of different solutions. Art therapy can be one avenue of finding meaning and self worth. We all want the feeling of being in love with life. Painting is like alchemy, people who have lost confidence can regain a personal power by just painting an unfilled surface with color..and feel a sense of satisfaction.
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Who are major local Missoula Artist's you like and what do you learn from them?
Mitchell Poor: The two Missoulan artists I really enjoy are Bill Ohrmann and Theo Ellesworth. Bill Ohrmann is in his 90's and has been around the longest I find his narratives grotesque and sarcastic. Bill is not afraid to work with difficult feelings..sometimes by laughing at them.
 |
| Bill Ohrmann Ancient Genetic Research |
Theo Ellsworth work is extremely unusual and his talent very rare. He has a very fruitful and patient awareness with his own process. Theo's ability to concentrate on detail is remarkable.
 |
| Theo Ellsworth First Contact |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: I see a lot of female nudity incorporated in your paintings, what's behind this?
Mitchell Poor: A women's body is a magnificent work of art, thick or thin. Nudity is a reminder of the truth, that nature doesn't care about our idea of nakedness.
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| Venus of Willendorf |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Can you share your knowledge and experience in animism?
Mitchell Poor: When I was a kid I had a recurring condition of pareidolia , I saw networks of figures and faces camouflaged in every surface..to my child like mind, there appeared to be a plural agency of beings without any central authority concealed in patterns and objects . I learned later that this was a primitive or original religious experience of animism. I don't consider the child like animistic experience as an abnormality. I think the temporal lobes in the brain behave differently in children and traditional indigenous people. The best example of animism is the transit the Aborigines called dreamtime.
.jpg) |
| Kakadu National Park |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Thoughts on Shamanism?
Mitchell Poor: To me, a shaman or totem minister represents a person who can use their will to direct nature(a healer). They appear to command events. They may have birth defects or have had a head injury that changed their ordinary perception. By tradition and ruling class, shaman priests induce meaningful coincidences by using hypnosis, theatrics or psychoactive chemicals.
 |
| Sitka-Qwan Shaman |
Arlene Chiqui Guerrero: Thoughts on Spirituality?
Mitchell Poor: I think the cosmos will go on with or without us. Life will live and change shape. Time will always continue. Space will always get smaller and bigger. There probably isn't anything to really worry about. I don't have a connection with any religion, to me it's fraudulent. Making art is the best method for self discovery for me.
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Arlene Chiqui Guerrero is a graphic artist, entrepreneur and painter from Hawai'i She owns and operates Chiqui's Surf Grill and is Vice President of Kaimana Pacific, Inc. Arlene Chiqui Guerrero Facebook Page Arlene Chiqui Guerrero Behance |
