Mike Leavitt (born November 4 , 1977 ) is a visual artist based in Seattle, WA U.S.A. He is most widely known for his "Art Army" series of hand-made action figure toys depicting visual artists, musicians, and entertainers. Under the production name Intuition Kitchen Productions , Leavitt is a "jack-of-all-trades" responsible for a wide variety of conceptual art projects and performance artworks.
Background
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Leavitt was influenced by the wood-craft and engineering of Native American, Scandinavian, and industrial manufacturing in the region. His parents practiced education, graphic design, and environmentalism by trade, formulating Leavitt's early interests in both art and sociology. As a child he taught himself to build miniature hydroplanes in balsa wood. "My mom had some drawing skills, she started as a graphic designer at Boeing," Leavitt says, "I would have her draw my action figures, and I would watch her draw." Though Leavitt is not considered a "self-taught" artist, his art training was unconventional. He attended one year at The Pratt Institute in New York in 1996-97, took sculpture courses at the University of Washington in 1998-99, and completed a self-designed Bachelor of Arts at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA in 2001. "Leavitt began crafting a motley variety of apartment friendly, popcult-themed art after dropping out of Pratt to avoid working for whoever passes for 'The Man' in the art world." (Thrillist.com) From 1998 to 2004, Leavitt executed a diverse series of conceptual art pieces. "Grandpa's Forest" (1998), "Infinite System" (1998) and "Epiphany" (1998) were large, room-sized installations involving physical audience participation. "Push Button Performer" (2001-2004), "Velcro Clothes" (1999), and "Interactive Puppetry" (2000-2001) were cabaret-style, amateur performances using audience confrontation in public settings. The "Piano Massager" (2001) and "Improv Station" (2001) were designed as interactive objects, with both manual and motorized moving parts. Between 1998 and 2004, Leavitt's studio gradually became a gallery known as The Intuition Kitchen ArtShop in Seattle. If not outdoors or in public, it was at this location that Leavitt arranged the production and promotion of his interactive, conceptual, and performance art. The 'ArtShop' slowly evolved from an exhibition space to a self-produced retail gallery for Leavitt to sell his "product". Originally an installation-type setting related to Claes Oldenburg's "The Store" (1961), the space became more akin to concept of Keith Haring's "PopShop" (1988-2005). Leavitt's 'ArtShop' hosted his first hand-made action figures, sold the majority of his trading cards, and occasionally dealt other examples of his paintings, prints, and small sculpture. This informal venture continued intermittently until the 'ArtShop' closed, and Leavitt began to show his work in retail galleries in 2004. Since then, Leavitt has continued non-commercial side projects, including plans for large scale public works, and political and community activism.
1999-2008 "Portable Homeless Shelters"
3 small, wheeled housing units were built for Seattle area Tent Cities. The first two units, made from salvaged pallet wood, served these Tent Cities for 3 years beginning during the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. "As the homeless faced the threat of street sweeps during WTO, Leavitt's creations were used as a 'honeymoon sweet' for one couple, and as a headquarters for the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort (SHARE). Log cabins for the homeless? It is an odd invention indeed. But it may also be a solutions of sorts for homelessness in Seattle."(Real Change)
The third unit was built in 2001, using vinyl siding scraps salvaged from construction debris. This shelter dismantled completely, with the roof, walls, and floor separating into large, flat, transportable sections. Though designed for domestic dwelling, the units were most often been used for secure storage and nighttime security posts in the Tent Cities.
2001- Trading Cards
"ArtCards", 2001-2003
Leavitt hand-painted small portraits of famous and lesser-known artists, re-printed in the likes of traditional baseball trading cards. "I had so many ideas- too many ideas- the opposite of writer's block" says Leavitt, "I started doing trading cards of work I had already done, ideas for things I hadn't built, and famous people... my influences, who inspired me." "ArtCard" subjects were drawn from varied genre, similar to his successive "Art Army" action figures, with icons such as Vincent Van Gogh, David Byrne, Bob Ross, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Laurie Anderson, Björk, and Michael Jackson. As described by Leavitt, the trading cards were the direct pre-cursor to the 'action figures': "the trading cards... were like singular figures in action. Why not 3-D? Why not an action figure, a toy?" In 4 complete sets of 45 cards each, Leavitt also developed sub-sets such as the "Future Stars" and "Concept Only" cards, representing unknown artists personally familiar to Leavitt and his un-executed ideas for large-scale works, respectively. Printed in limited editions and packaged in wrappers with bubble gum, "Art Cards" were sold personally by Leavitt and exhibited as art objects. Leavitt said, "It's a way I created to compare people and what they do across all kinds of different areas." "Many mass-produced trading cards are based on original pieces that are shrunken down to fit the space. 'I take great pride that that is the size I drew them,' Leavitt says. 'It's one of the challenges I like- it's like a game, to create art that small and make it work.'" (The Artist's Magazine )"Media Heroes", 2008
Seattle-based independent media advocacy group Reclaim the Media collaborated with Leavitt to produce a set of "Media Heroes" trading cards. Included are Leavitt's drawings of individuals and organizations such as Bill Moyers, Democracy Now!, Children's Television Workshop, and Frederick Douglass. Though essentially an illustration side-project for Leavitt, the cards have become a useful fund-raising and educational tool for the mission purposes of Reclaim the Media."Star Wars Galaxy 4 Sketch Cards", 2009
In a growing trend pioneered by the Topps Trading Cards company, artists' are being hired to produce quick drawings on 'sketch cards'. The small originals are then inserted randomly in retail packages of the trading cards, often coveted and dealt intensely by collectors after finding the rare cards. Leavitt was one of several "familiar names" invited by fellow artist Suckadelic to participate in a group representation amidst Topps' 2009 Star Wars Galaxy 4 sketch card sub-set.
2002- Action Figures & "The Art Army"
Though accurately described as action figures, the "Art Army" series is more commonly considered fine art. "These are art toys with a capital 'A'." (Jason Atomic, PIMP Magazine) Leavitt is "interested mainly in the figure as sculpture, and less as a pure platform." (Dot Dot Dash, Die Gestalten Verlag) Since they are not made in plastic or reproduced in multiples, and are only available commercially through fine art galleries, the "toy" definition only describes the figures' engineering. Leavitt says, " 'action figures' are OURS, (they are) particular to the early '80's boom in mainstream toy business that predated the anti-social video game boom' and I like the connotations of the words 'action' and 'figure'- movement and motion, and figurative realism." The articulating, polymer clay, small-scale (3 to 12 inches, 7 to 24 cm tall) figures are assembled with elastic cord, have removable parts and internal armatures, and display in hand-made blister packages, glass domes, and custom diorama-style backgrounds. Leavitt also carves the articulating action figures in wood, both at the small action figure scale and in a large scale (up to 3 feet, 100 cm tall).
"More of a good-natured joke than a stern commentary on the commodification of art" (David Stoesz, Seattle Weekly), the biographic series depict artists in an array of genres. Leavitt "perceives the potential for his figures to act as bridges between pop culture and art history." (Dot Dot D
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