Mitch Greer

Mitch Greer is a transdisciplinary artist whose work bridges the visible and the ineffable. Trained as a concept artist and impressionist painter, his practice spans painting, animation, sound, writing, and experimental film—exploring luminous interiors, mythic storytelling, and the spiritual edge of modern life. Rooted in the contemplative spirit of the San Francisco Bay Area, his work integrates urban sensibility with the quiet wisdom of nature.

Greer’s paintings evoke emotional clarity and meditative presence, while his moving image work extends that vision into narrative abstraction, live-action collage, and stop-motion poetics. Through Skymachine, his pop-surrealist platform for animation and mythic cinema, and Atorie, a design and research studio, he channels a unified philosophy of image-making—where sacred utility, sensory beauty, and speculative inquiry converge.

Educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Art Institute, and California College of the Arts, Greer’s career has moved between studio practice, sound-art performance, and immersive digital media. His work with collaborators such as Rachel Smith (The Lickets) has been featured at Issue Project Room (NYC), Olympia Experimental Festival, Garden of Memory, and Stanford’s Day of Noise. In 2025, his films have earned recognition across international festivals in India, Italy, Greece, and the UAE, with awards for Best Short Foreign Film and Best Music Video.

His books are held in the Flaxman Library at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in the library of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin, affirming the work’s place in critical, cross-cultural dialogue.

Across all mediums, Mitch Greer’s work reflects a lifelong devotion to meaning, wonder, and the quiet flame of the mystery of reality.

Exhibitions

  • 2025 Tamizhagam International Film Festival, India

  • 2025 Tokyo International Shortfilm Festival, Tokyo, Japan

  • 2025 Post Cinema Film Festival, Siracusa, Italy

  • 2025 Detroit Independent Film Festival, Detroit, MI

  • 2025 Madrid Arthouse Film Festival, Semi Finalist, Madrid, Spain

  • 2025 Durgapur International Film Festival, Durgapur, India

  • 2025 Monza Film Festival, Nominee For Best Musical Monza, Italy

  • 2025 Dubai Independent Film Festival, Semi Finalist, Dubai, UAE

  • 2025 MindField Film Festival Semi Finalist, Albequerque, NM

  • 2025 Athens Indie Film Festival Semi Finalist, Athens, Greece

  • 2025 Eastern Europe Film Festival, Romania

  • 2025 Abstract Mind, CICA Museum, Seoul, Korea

  • 2024 Esomnia, San Francisco, CA

  • 2024 Animaze Animation Day in Cannes & Venice, Montreal, Quebec

  • 2024 Blue, St. Louis Art Gallery Oxford, Wantage, Oxford, UK

  • 2024 7 Artists, St. Louis Art Gallery Oxford, Wantage, Oxford, UK

  • 2022 Art Placer Featured Exhibitions, Online

  • 2022 Tides of Change, Drawing Room, San Francisco, CA

  • 2021 Finding Peace, St Augustine’s Art Association, St. Augustine, FL

  • 2020 A Line Across Time, Ruby's, Emeryville, CA

  • 2018 Merged, d'Art Center, Norfolk, VA

  • 2018 Drink Me, H Gallery, Ventura, CA

  • 2018 Invented Landscapes, Fertile Grounds, Berkeley, CA

  • 2017 Drawings and Collage, Fertile Grounds, Berkeley, CA

  • 2016 Open Studio: Cuba, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2016 BFA Exhibition, SFAI, San Francisco, CA

  • 2016 Colonization is Not a Metaphor, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2016 Flooded Corners, Enregla, Havana, Cuba

  • 2015 Hot Off the Grid, SFAI, San Francisco, CA

  • 2013 Post-Human Nature, Platform, Santa Barbara, CA

  • 2013 Art Biologic, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY

  • 2010 Music of the Hemispheres, Issue Project Room, New York, NY

  • 2009 Olympia Experimental Music Festival, Olympia, WA

  • 2006 Active Liberty, Student Union Gallery, SAIC, Chicago, IL

Collections

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Flaxman Library, Chicago

SAVVY Contemporary Library, Berlin

Education

2024 Zenva
2024 Meritt College
2023 Codecademy
2017-2020 MFA California College of the Arts (CCA)
2014-2016 BFA San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI)
2004-2007 School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)

Grants/Awards

2025 Best Short Film, Durgapur International Film Festival, India
2025 Best Music Video, Tamizhagam International Film Festival, India
2016 Recognition of Academic Achievement SFAI
2016 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award: Design and Technology SFAI
2016 Deans Scholarship SFAI
2014 Deans Scholarship SFAI
2004 Merit Scholarship SAIC

The Lickets Interview KZSU Stanford

The Lickets Ten Mystery Flavors: Textura

Fake Universe Man Review

The Wire, issue 255 May 2005

If you’d like to discuss a commission, exhibition, or archival acquisition, contact the studio here.