Mike Leavitt (born November 4, 1977) is an American visual artist based near Seattle, Washington known for a variety of pop art, fine art and satirical works in multimedia. Leavitt "blends art, design and social commentary"Seattle Art Museum, "Art Hit Tour", August 29, 2013. with his cardboard shoes, handmade statues of cultural icons, and other projects.Esquivel, K: "Art Attack", TABLET Magazine, November 2002 Inspired to honor his 11th-generation American citizenship inherited from John Leavitt (1608–1691),"We Should Appreciate Every Family's Migration", The Vashon Beachcomber, August 21, 2019 Leavitt's political work is reproduced by the Brooklyn, NY toy company 'FCTRY'."And Now Kamala Harris Action Figure", The American Bazaar, January 25, 2019"Robert Mueller Gets His Own Action Figure", Geek Spin, January 16, 2019
Background
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Leavitt was influenced by the wood-craft and engineering of Native American, Scandinavian, and industrial craft in the region. His parents practiced education, graphic design and environmentalism, formulating Leavitt's early interests in both art and sociology. As a child he taught himself to build miniature hydroplanes in balsa wood.Albert, J: "Watch Out for Darth Bush", South Seattle Star, June 25, 2003. "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."Nishimoto, G: "Living Artist Are Just as Good as Dead Ones", Vapors Magazine, Fall 2005. He attended The Pratt Institute in New York in 1996–97.
"I thought I wanted to be an art teacher, or maybe a graphic designer when I entered school. But I realized neither of these fields would allow me the freedom and flexibility I wanted in my life and career.""Meet Mike Leavitt", Canvas Rebel, February 12, 2025. During this time "Leavitt began crafting a motley variety of apartment friendly, pop-cult-themed art after dropping out of Pratt to avoid working for whoever passes for 'The Man' in the art world." (Thrillist.com"Cardboard Kicks & Custom Figurines", www.thrillist.com/new-york , July 23, 2009.) "I left school, took a year off, traveled and self-produced my own art shows at the age of 19. After that year 'off', I realized I wanted to try making a career of it, found a college that suited my ambitions, and went for it.""Meet Mike Leavitt", Canvas Rebel, February 12, 2025. Leavitt then completed a self-designed Bachelor of Arts at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.Herber, K: "Art Cookin' in the Kitchen", Madrona News, March 2003.
While Leavitt developed a set of conceptual art pieces before and after finishing college, he also converted a central Seattle art studio into a self-produced retail gallery space. His "Intuition Kitchen ArtShop" sold his first trading cards and hand-made action figures. It closed in 2004 as Leavitt started showed his work in retail art galleries and branching into commercial outlets for his art. Since then Leavitt has continued his professional career and community activism.Leavitt, M: "An Epic New Space", Seattle Times, March 31, 2008 (Editor): "Power to the Peeps", Seattle Times/P-I Sunday Edition, March 16, 2008.Leavitt, M: "'Parking Lot' Still Not Respecting Community Concerns", Madrona News, April 1, 2008.
1999–2008 Portable Homeless Shelters
Just prior to the 1999 Seattle WTO protests, Leavitt built three small, wheeled housing units to be used by tent cities for the homeless. The first two units, made from salvaged pallet wood and recycled materials, served Seattle area tent cities for 3 years to follow. "As the homeless faced the threat of street sweeps during WTO, Leavitt's creations were used as a 'honeymoon 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"Surving with Dignity: Evergreen Student Does Something Useful", Real Change, January 15, 2000.) To improve on his first designs, Leavitt built a third unit in 2001 using vinyl siding scraps salvaged from construction debris. Though designed as a domestic dwelling, the unit was used for 7 years as secure storage and nighttime security posts in the tent cities until it was dismantled in 2008.YouTube.com, retrieved December 18, 2007
1999-2026 "Push Button Performer"
Initially developed from 1999 to 2005MikeLeavittArt.com, "Push Button Performer" is Leavitt's cabaret-style, interactive performance art piece that involves audience confrontations in publicYouTube.com, retrieved December 18, 2007 while "a panel of buttons lets attendees control a quirky robo-human beatnik through spoken word, music, and playful interruptions."walkdontrun-sea.org
Expanding on the original parody of turn-of-the-century technological devices, the "Push Button Performer" has been updated since 2026 using songs and spoken word in a thematic set of content that satirizes the state of post-2020 technology.MikeLeavittArt.com "Blending humor, technology, and performance, the piece explores our relationship with machines while turning the audience into an essential part of the show."
2001–2015 Trading Cards
With his "ArtCards" from 2001 to 2003 Leavitt painted small portraits of famous and lesser-known artists, re-printed like traditional baseball 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. As described by Leavitt, the trading cards were the direct precursor to the 'action figures': "the trading cards... were like singular figures in action. Why not 3-D? Why not an action figure, a toy?" Printed and sold in limited editions, packaged in wrappers with bubble gum, "Art Cards" were also exhibited as art objects."Stranger Suggests", The Stranger, December 28, 2006. 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 MagazineStroope, L: "Miniature Masterpieces", The Artist's Magazine, October 2009.)
Seattle-based independent media advocacy group Reclaim the Media collaborated with Leavitt in 2008 to produce a set of "Media Heroes" trading cards. From 2009 to 2015 the Topps Trading Card company hired Leavitt to produce illustrations for their Star Wars sketch cards ."Mainstream Pop Culture meets Urban Underground Sub-Culture: Star Wars Galaxy 4 Sketch Cards from TOPPS", toysrevil.blogspot.com, February 25, 2009.
2006–2013 Alternative Kitsch Projects
Leavitt formatted small-scale figurative work as personalized wedding cake toppers to depict the bride and groom."Great Art by Michael Leavitt", allthatscool.com, February 14, 2006."Editor's Picks", Seattle Bride Magazine, Fall 2007. "(Leavitt's) custom work is just a little bit different than most. He makes action figures, and what is more action packed than a wedding? With a few simple design modifications, Mike turned his action figure style into one of a kind cake toppers." (Handcrafted.com"Action Packed", blog.thehandcraftedwedding.com , May 2009.) Once showing famous celebrity couples from modern history and same-sex marriage in gallery exhibitions, "the cake toppers are playful with a message... a look at love in the spotlight." (The Desert Sun"Sculptor celebrates 'Real Love'", The Desert Sun , October 16, 2009.)
In a series entitled "Pitchfork Pals" Leavitt collaborated with the Seattle artist and iconoclast Charles Krafft. Leavitt sculpted busts of controversial icons for the project. Charles Krafft was responsible for producing the pottery by hand. Krafft is a ceramicist known for his non-traditional, kitsch-like objects."Charles Krafft: Controversial American Ceramist", ceramicstoday.com, 2007. Included in the series were figures such as Kim Jong Il and Charles Manson depicted as tea pots and the British nostalgia collectibles known as Toby mugs."Currently Hanging", slog.thestranger.com, May 27, 2009."Kim Jong Il Tea Pot", cakeheadlovesevil.wordpress.com, December 20, 2009."Kim Jong Il-Teekanne", nerdcore.de, December 22, 2009. "They're teapots, which is clever if not representative of each character pouring malevolence into the culture that surrounds them."(Jailbreak Collective"Wicked Teapots", thejailbreak.com, April 5, 2010.)
On using the "Kim Jong Il" tea pot, one humorist conjectured, "when drinking tea from this miserable looking device, you have to avert your eyes and be eternally grateful for such a delicious brew. If you don't, you might 'go missing'." (Mof Gimmers"Kim Jong-Il Teapot Anyone?", bitterwallet.com, September 5, 2010.)
2002–2024 Action Figures
Starting in 2002, Leavitt's "Art Army" series is considered fine art, though these sculptures are also described as action figures."Art Army by Michael Leavitt", hypediss.com, December 13, 2006. "These are art toys with a capital 'A'." (Jason Atomic, PIMP MagazineAtomic, J: "Art Army", PIMP Magazine, November 2006.) Leavitt is "interested mainly in the figure as sculpture, and less as a pure platform." (Dot Dot Dash, Die Gestalten VerlagHubner, M: Dot Dot Dash: Designer Toys, Action Figures, and Character Art, Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin 2006.) The "toy" definition 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 mixed media and wood figures range from 6 cm to 1 meter tall with moving body parts and accessories.Stoesz, D: "The Art Army", Seattle Weekly, November 27, 2002Stoesz, D: "The Art Army vs. The Man", Seattle Weekly, April 30, 2003."Editor's Picks", Seattle Magazine, 2006."Art Army by Michael Leavitt", gothamist.com , June 27, 2007."Mike Leavitt- Art Army Young Guns", vinylpulse.com, November 22, 2007.
"More of a good-natured joke than a stern commentary on the commodification of art" (David Stoesz, Seattle Weekly), Leavitt's biographic series depicts subjects in an array of genres though most often contemporary visual artists. Leavitt "perceives the potential for his figures to act as bridges between pop culture and art history." (Dot Dot Dash, Die Gestalten Verlag) In over 400 different figures subjects include Jeff Koons, Ai WeiWei, Kara Walker, Cindy Sherman, Takashi Murakami, Frida Kahlo, David Byrne, Björk and Tupac Shakur."Show Coverage: Art Army Juxta-posers @ Copro/Nason", vinylpulse.com, April 23, 2006."Art Army Action Figures", oldmanmusings.com, April 26, 2006."Art Army Action Figures", ozoux.com, November 2, 2006."Art Army", blogs.walkerart.org, November 3, 2006. "The tributes to Leavitt's heroes will do nothing more than put a big dopy grin on your face." (Seattle Magazine)