Mika Revell
Mika Revell portrait
Mika Revell (b. 1985, Sydney, Australia) is a Chinese-American multimedia artist. Her work delves into the complex relationship between symbols of power and commodity, contrasting the ominous and alluring. Using pink pigments and polished finishes, she investigates the processes of manufacturing and labor. Her sculptures interrogate the global supply chain of resources and human life. Revell explores how weapons and commodification shape our desires. Her latest series addresses themes of power, war, and wealth both beautiful and unsettling. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Central Saint Martin's, London, and international residencies in Riyadh, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. Her recent solo show, SOFTCORE WAR, explores the natural world wrapped in fetishized commodity. Territorial, ideological, and environmental conflicts surround us, yet we are desensitized, entertained, and addicted. Softcore War examines this seemingly contradictory, but accepted, reality. Using her signature pink as a panacea, Revell subverts symbols of violence with pacifism and levity. She employs satire and absurdity to expose how we accept our dystopian present. An inflatable bomb mocks the grotesque celebration of destruction, while post-human, sculptures depicting rapid evolution hint at the effects of industry on the body. Combining organic and manufactured materials, with symbols of violence and enjoyment, Revell exposes the ways we package and accept a brutal and competitive world.

Education

  • Masters in Clinical Psychology Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, 2023
  • Masters in Fine Art Central Saint Martin's University of the Arts, London, 2009
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, 2007

Selected Public Artworks

  • A Symphony of Circuit and Soil SFER IK Museum, Tulum, 2024 - Art in Nature Award
  • Midwest Wildflowers The City of South Milwaukee, 2023 - RFP Award
  • Angels Stadium x Bulleit Bourbon Anaheim, 2023
  • The Teaching Tree (with Muhanned Shono) Venice Biennale, 2022
  • A Song of Silence (with Muhanned Shono) Art Basel, 2022
  • I See You Brightest in the Dark (with Muhanned Shono) Noor Riyadh Festival, 2022
  • Angels Stadium x Don Julio Anaheim, 2022
  • Superbowl LVI x Johnny Walker SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, 2021
  • Johnny Walker x Head in the Clouds Rose Bowl, Los Angeles, 2021
  • Architecture + Design Museum Los Angeles, 2020

Solo Exhibitions

  • SOFTCORE WAR Brutal. Gallery, Cape Town, 2024
  • Power | Play JAX DISTRICT, Riyadh, 2022
  • Unnatural Disasters LA Art Show, 2017
  • Proximity Effect Nishikicho Gallery, Tokyo, 2015
Artist in studio