Newcastle artist Mitch "Revs" Resevsky has carved out a mighty reputation in the last eight years, drawing attention on the national stage for his colourful, energetic murals and commercial projects for major clients, and building a sizeable Newcastle fanbase with his iconic, cartoon-like characters and beach and harbour images of the city.
But 2022 has been a year like no other, as Revs became a father to twins, Bodhi and Bobbi, born to his partner Emily Bell and him in January.
The twins were born premature, with the couple spending nearly a month in John Hunter Hospital from Christmas Day last year before they were born on January 17, and then another eight weeks in the hospital until the twins were strong enough to be brought home.
As hectic as home life has been with twins, Revs multi-faceted business needed to be nurtured and guided, too. By August, Revs was in dire need for some artistic "me time".
The result of nearly a month of mornings spent in his working studio, upstairs in a King Street building, is the artworks in The Long Road Home, a one-day exhibition on Saturday, December 3, at his Hunter Street gallery from 3pm to 6pm.
"Just this whole show together, it came from a different place for me," Revs says, "I'm interested to see what people think of the work, because it's so different to anything I'd done before."
'My creative childhood'
There will be 30-plus works in the show, all for sale, with all profits going to the John Hunter Children's Hospital, a place Revs knows well after spending two months there with Emily and their newborns.
One of the unique facets of this show: there are only original works (priced from $300 to $3500), no prints of the art, just paintings and skateboards.
"I'm known for that hyper colour illustration," Revs says. "All in a Year [his last show] was animals and abstract mixed with cartoonism. What you'll see this time - I've tapped back into my creative childhood and early memories and kind of re-creating thoughts from when I was growing up. I think that goes hand-in-hand with me now being a dad... it was me just wanting that playful element that I feel like I lost."
That sweet spot of productivity for Revs for this work was from 9am to noon in his studio space over three weeks in August.
"My three hours of power," he calls them.
The works vary - a dog with cane and glasses, a coffee cup, a giant tree, a handful of ducks, a house, some abstract images.
"I honestly was just trying to keep it as youthful as possible," Revs says. "Even when I was holding the brush it was a lot less controlled. I was holding the brush right at the end of the brush to try and keep it as loose as possible rather than a nice, controlled line."
The colours are muted, toned down from what we've grown to expect from Revs.
"It was a conscious decision," he says. "A lot of it was leftover paint. Literally just what you would do if you were a kid. I tried to tap into that as much as I could. I used old shitty brushes, making use of what I had."
Although coming out of two years of the pandemic, life has kicked up another notch with infant twins at home and a business to run.
In a typical work day this year, Revs has been exhausted by the end of the day.
"I'm so wrecked," he says. "By 3pm I spend two hours with kids - help feed them, put them to bed. We have dinner at 6.30 or 7pm and I'm wrecked. More mentally, too. Physically, I'm fine. It's like the mental fatigue of thinking about being here [at work] all day, what's got to happen. Bouncing back and forth. Multiple employees, across three businesses I run, making sure Emily is alright. And sprinkle the creativeness through that. It's a lot.
"Just being in that business grind, where you're always trying to hit figures and it does become a bit structural."
Success breeds success, but it's hard work.
"Being an artist and a businessman, i find it difficult to juggle between the two," he says. "We want to keep this thriving but also, it's driven by me bringing out new work. And, when you know what people want, you paint it."
Mitch Revs and Emily Bell open up about the emotional birth journey of their twins Bodhi and Bobbi
Newcastle pop artist Revs aims far beyond Vegemite jars
Mitch Revs pay homage to Merewether Beach poster artist Mick Eggleston
It probably was only a matter of time Revs artistic side needed breathing room.
""I found myself like painting and creating things for others rather than things that I enjoy," he says. "So when I sat down and had this mental health month, I'm like, 'I'm just going to paint what comes out'. And literally, like 95 per cent of these paintings, was me sitting on the floor, just like you did when you were a kid, You dont go'I'm going to draw a house with a tree', you just sit down and it comes out.
"For most of these works, the hand just started to move, and whatever came out, came out. You can definitely see that. A lot more loose lines, a lot more playful. There are mistakes on the canvas, and for me, that was a struggle to let that be. It had to happen, and people will enjoy seeing that."
