Mike Leavitt

Mike Leavitt

Seattle native Mike Leavitt is a one-man art company. A boredom for 'normal' art pushes Leavitt into a wide variety of projects. The 'Art Army' action figures are hand-made one-off 'toys' depicting famous artists. His custom wedding cake toppers are now a lucrative side-project. 'Hip Hopjects' are nostalgic 1980’s ephemera replicated with recycled materials. 'Penny Places' are 'lucky' pennies painted with tiny landscapes to depict an exact location where a penny was found in the street. 'ArtCards' are hand-drawn trading cards of artists, sold in packs wrapped with bubble gum.

His Barack Obama artwork, from a marshmallow peeps portrait, to an elaborate action figure satire, toured Leavitt from a 'Manifest Hope' winner’s circle to a massive political event in Rome, 2008. He executes commissions and exhibits throughout the US and Europe. Leavitt comes from a conceptual art background, with generations of interactive performance art, motorized sculpture, and multi-sensory installations in his younger days. Whether working in fine art, craft, or product, Leavitt loses interest too easily to add more crap to a square-edged world.

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Artist: Mike Leavitt  |  Title: Leavitt Football

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Work

  • Behind the scenes look at Leavitt at work in his Seattle, WA studio
  • Behind the scenes look at Leavitt at work in his Seattle, WA studio

Q&A

What motivates you? My competition. Communicating with people. Teaching. Politics. Things that are wrong with the world. Being out in nature. Super beautiful things. Any wise words of advice? Don’t be so afraid of “selling out.” Maybe that’s just an archaic Gen-X thing and no one really cares about that any more. The economy’s one concern, but my bigger concern is how isolated art continues to be from the rest of society. Most artists, galleries, critics and museums don’t seem to either care or notice how much the movie and music industries dominate art consumption. Good topics for party talk? Whatever’s on my mind on the way to the party. Something stupid somebody says at the party. Basketball, soccer. Urban planning. President Obama’s awesomeness. Favorite things to do when not creating? I don’t do much besides creating one thing or another. When I do take breaks, I try to kick back. Go to the beach, play with the dog, watch movies, play basketball. What would the ultimate job be? Designing and building huge public playgrounds for both adults and kids.

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