About the Artist

Hi. I’m Brandon Mitts. I received my BFA from Oklahoma State University and my MFA from Arizona State University.

As a kid, I drew ALL of the time. My family cheered my depictions of musicians such as Buddy Holly, Travis Tritt, Boxcar Willie, Vince Gill, Paul McCartney, and Garth Brooks. The Guymon High School football coach even commissioned me to do a pencil drawing of Bear Bryant.

My work transitioned into painterly abstraction in college and throughout graduate school. Even if my subjects began as people or places, those sources became unrecognizable in the finished works. 

Currently, I explore the concept of restoration. What constitutes brokenness? Where is beauty? How does wonder work in the restoration process?

My paintings use color, collage, and found objects. They are executed with curiosity and humor. The working concept is to add brokenness/dissonance to my process, so there is something to restore through exploration. Painters that influence my current approach include Joseph Cornell, Philip Guston, Wolf Kahn, Jessica Stockholder, Howard Finster, Alayne Spafford, and Eric Sall.