Paul Mitchnick Has a Show!
- Elizabeth Gracen
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
By Elizabeth Gracen:
Flapper Press continues its mission to feature artists and writers from around the globe, and we love to hear updates from the artists featured on our site. Paul Mitchnick's articles have always resonated with our readers, his photography a visual jumping off point for poetic musings on travel, seasons, time, and the world around him. With the announcement of his upcoming show at the Neilson Park Creative Centre in Toronto, Canada, April 13–May 2, 2026, I reached out to talk to Paul about his latest work and the retrospective aspect of the new exhibit.
Elizabeth Gracen: Paul, I was so happy to hear that you have a new show in the works, and I was thrilled with the vibrant images you sent me not long ago—gorgeous flowers! Tell me all about your current inspirations and how the new exhibit came to be.
Paul Mitchnick: "The Dos Quatro Cantos" flower photo that I sent you earlier is a technique that I’ve been shooting for about a year. In the past, I had made some very cool multiple exposure images at amusement parks. I wanted to try flowers. Something of Marc Chagall & Mad Magazine with lots going on. Colour, energy, movement, design. When I first photographed the Tulip series, the multiple exposures I tried then were awful. Just awful. Too many images, no real focus, and lots of green. It took a while, but simpler is better.
EG: Flapper Press has been lucky enough to feature the gorgeous Tulips series on the site. What is it about flowers that captivates you? I have my own ideas about why flowers are a go-to for artists and why people always love to see them in art, but tell me what you think.
PM: Flowers make people happy. I am not by nature a flower person, but my wife, Michaelin, is. Me off somewhere, shooting a film, away from home yet again; I would send photos of local flowers. Let her know I was thinking of her. I never really wanted to shoot flowers, though; intimidated by all the great work done before. Georgia O’Keefe, Robert Mapplethorpe, and countless others. What could I contribute? But gradually and eventually I just started shooting them, applying who I was to the flowers.
Flowers are always beautiful, so they make great subject material. They are also alive when I shoot them. I enjoy the life cycle and what they reveal. As elegant and graceful as life gets. Flowers have colour, texture, shape, design, and maybe a little magic. Flowers are also cheap. You go to the store, buy lots, and take them home, put them near a window and go. And if that becomes expensive, just go shoot the ones in your neighbour’s garden or a flower shop. Simple.
EG: Your work delves into both black-and-white imagery as well as the most dynamic of colors. You’re also interested in pattern and graphic design, motion, time . . . the list goes on. For you, is there a conscious focus on a particular through-line in your art?
PM: I am really interested in story. Telling the truth of the story of the image. What has captured me? This is now a more conscious thing than in the past, but it has always been there. My professional life as a cinematographer added the concepts of time and motion to my photography. How long is a moment? And what would that moment look like if the parameters weren’t our normal perception? For twenty years I was a camera operator, composing, composing, composing. Day after day, shot after shot. Balance, structure, intent, wondering how to make the audience see the story in a particular shot. How do three shots make a scene? How do many scenes make a movie? Composition is in my DNA. If I am in someone’s house and there are crooked pictures, I wait ‘til they leave the room and then straightened the pictures.
EG: I don’t think we’ve ever talked about your influences and inspirations. What artists, music, film, writers, poetry, etc. inspire you?
PM: Imagination, heart, and honesty are what inspire me. I grew up with 10-year-old National Geographics in my house. My allowance was spent on comic books. There was a huge pile under my bed; read and reread. And shared with my brother, who had an equally large pile under his bed . . . Adventures, stories, art school.
In photography Vivian Maier, Arnold Newman, E.J. Bellocq, David Burdeny, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus. Bert Stern’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe are always in my head. So very raw and intimate. As a kid, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario had a pretty great Group of Seven collection. To this day, their landscapes of Canada’s north continue to hold me in awe. As a teenager babysitting my nephews, I spent a lot of time at that gallery. Antonio Berni, the South American artist, for his raw social observations.
My office has over 1,400 CDs, so I don’t want to start on music, however John Lee Hooker’s voice is honey. Social media has introduced me to imaginative people that I never would have otherwise encountered.
EG: What do you hope the viewer (both online and in-person at the gallery show) comes away with when they see your art?
PM: There is something about each image that asks to be photographed. To tell its story. If I impart what touched me to the viewer, if I am able to tell the truth of the shot, then I have made a successful photograph.
EG: I’m sure your head is deep into the current show, but I’m sure you have something else percolating in your brain for future projects. Tell me all about it and where our readers can find out more about you and your work. Good luck with the show!
PM: Thanks for that. I am very excited about the show. I spent some time in Panama in December. There is a mixture of black volcanic and brown sand on the beaches. A fleeting landscape of contrast and design. I am quite excited about what I shot. Work starts on them once the show comes down. And maybe another trip to Panama later this year.
My next shooting project will be more multiple exposure flowers, both black and white and colour. Late spring is a perfect time.
People can see my work by going to paulmitchnickphotos.com. There is lotsa stuff there, including the articles that I have written for Flapper Press. The Pentimento section on my website has more flowers. Also on Instagram @pmmitchnick, it’s a bit more whimsical.
Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.
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