We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mini Mukherjee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mini below.
Mini, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My parents showed me through their actions (versus just telling me) that all cultures are valuable, and that all people are beautiful and equal in the eyes of God. Growing up I remember celebrating all different holidays with our neighbors and I was encouraged to develop friendships with people from different ethnic backgrounds. For a long time I thought this was a normal and common thing, and it wasn’t until I was older that I realized that the way they raised my sister and I to be culturally open was not everyone else’s experience. Now as a mother myself, I am more forgiving of my parents’ blind spots because I know they did the best they could. I feel grateful for the gift they gave me to see the world with a more open mind and heart.
Mini, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m an artist based in Los Angeles (and proud wife & new mama!). I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan then spent several years working in the Finance and Tech industries living in NYC, Boston, Chicago and Singapore. I began making art just for myself as a way to connect my head and heart during a time where I felt depressed and discouraged. I call my pieces “heARTwork” because art helped me find my way back to my heart. A friend of mine encouraged me to put some of my work out there, and in the first gallery show I ever submitted to my piece won Director’s choice and was sold on opening night. I have kept making art ever since and it has been my main focus for the past 5 years.
The goal of my artistic practice is to feel free and stay connected to joy. I want people to feel that it’s ok to feel whatever they feel and find a way to stay connected to their heart during these really crazy times. If you have been following me for a while, you may know that joy is something I’m always trying to cultivate more of in my life and I hope that rubs off on others who know me and my work. It’s a core value that my husband Chris and I share, so much so that we named our daughter Joya! I have found that the more I can connect to the freedom and joy in myself and through my heARTwork, the more I can weather the ups and downs of my artist’s journey, and it’s been a hard couple of years with the pandemic and civil unrest.
My approach transcends artistic media, and I’ve exhibited work in sculpture, painting, and digital design. When beginning a piece I consider the themes, message, and intention of the work and select the medium that best captures these attributes to me. To date, that’s mostly been through metalwork and sculpture.
One element that consistently shows up in my work is the use of abstracted or idealized human forms. I am drawn to abstraction because it feels freeing and I utilize the basic components of human form as a compositional framework which I can build upon. By not limiting myself to an exact human form, I have the freedom to focus on the core emotions I’m feeling and want to convey rather than the specifics of a given anatomical feature or posture. You can see this in one of my seminal works, Joy Buddies.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Power tools! When I first began working with sheet metal, I would do everything by hand and not in the way that is a sign of quality craftsmanship. It was more like since I didn’t know about power tools or hand tools and how to properly use them I instead just used whatever I had around the house or looked remotely useful at Home Depot (like using tin snips to cut steel, eek!). I love the way I jump into things but I created a lot of unnecessary stress and pain in my hands, plus it took me a lot longer to finish anything. I learned pretty quickly how important is to slow down and to invest in learning your craft, even if you work across multiple mediums like I do — the saying “once you know the rules, then you can break them” is true. I needed a solid foundation. It wasn’t until I invested in metalworking classes and fabrication courses that I began to learn how to work smarter which ultimately gave me greater clarity and confidence (and no pain) while making art. And I’m still always looking to find my edge with new methods and technology. It’s one of my favorite aspects of being an artist — I’m always learning!
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I know crypto is on a rollercoaster right now but I’m a long-term thinking kind of person. Maybe it’s my financial services background, but when I think of investing and trends, I tend to think longer term and I’m patient. I see NFTs doing two great things for artists: 1) they provide a way for artists to create one-of-one digital art in an authenticated way and 2) are a means for artists to take part in the growing value of their own work as time passes.
What I love about NFTs is that they were created to empower creators. Especially coming to art from a career in business I was surprised to see the uneven power dynamics between artist and the ecosystem around the artist. When I learned about NFTs a few years ago, I was excited about it because it seems to be a technology that could help bring more balance between creator, distributor and collector. I have learned that most projects in this space are not going to work out because the ecosystem is so new but I’m learning a lot and that keeps me interested in the space.
Contact Info:
- Website: minibutmightyart.com
- Instagram: @minibutmightyart
Image Credits
@kingmoncreative @galligher_photo @chrisdeauphoto