“Donut,” a mixed-media work by Tyler Corbett. (Courtesy of the artist)
By Rachel Corbett
Over the past 14 years, Jarrett Mitchell has gone from serving coffee from a cart in downtown Iowa City to roasting beans for dozens of stores in Johnson County to running an espresso bar and factory outlet here in Des Moines. He and his wife, Cristin, opened Wake Up Iowa Coffee last October at 3605 Douglas Ave. and are already launching a new venture, turning its spare room into an art gallery.
The project revives Mitchell’s past life as an artist. In the early aughts, the Keokuk native (pictured) began showing his drawings, videos, installations and other artwork at prestigious galleries in New York, including Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Deitch Projects, and collaborating with artists such as Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller. Although Mitchell left his art career behind, he’s bringing that experience with him to create “a dedicated space that lets art work be on its own, rather than in the context of a coffee shop,” he said.
The new space, called Sideroom Gallery at Wake Up Iowa, will open its debut show, “Superposition,” with a reception set for 6-8 p.m. Sept. 6. It’s dedicated to the uncanny, mixed-media artwork of Tyler Corbett, an Iowa City native who lives in Milwaukee.
To make the artwork, Corbett broke down books, photos and maps into tiny geometric shapes and then rebuilt them into solid geometric forms. That process is the basis of his inspiration.
“I start with an emotion I experience, like fear or isolation, and I attempt to visualize it as a tangible form, usually a sort of geometric object. Then I take the geometric object and subdivide it to an absurd level of complexity,” he said. “I use pencils and paint to render the image as if it were an actual still life. “He then layers it with more paint and glaze to deepen and enrich the work’s atmosphere.
Corbett and Mitchell first met about 30 years ago, when Corbett was in high school and Mitchell was an art student at the University of Iowa. They became friends and roommates and have remained in touch since.
“I knew Jarrett was looking to start an exhibition space and we connected the dots,” Corbett said. “I rarely use social media to promote my work, which means the only way to see it is often in person. So it’s important to me that I am able to show my work to an audience who may know me but doesn’t know my work.”
Mitchell invited Corbett to present the gallery’s inaugural show not only because Mitchell was impressed with the artwork, but also because he wants the gallery to showcase the work of out-of-state artists who have connections to Iowa.
Elsewhere in the building, guests can see works from Mitchell’s personal collection — including those by Deller, Matthew Barney, Chris Johanson, and Kevin Lips — on rotating display in the coffee shop. “I often say that Andy Warhol had a factory,” Mitchell said. “And so do I.”
Contributing writer Rachel Corbett, who is Tyler Corbett’s sister, grew up in Iowa City and now lives in New York, where she writes about arts and culture. Her work has appeared in the Atlantic, the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine, among others.
