Meet Mini Mukherjee of Mini But Mighty Art

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mini Mukherjee.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’m a metalwork artist, sculptor, and designer in Los Angeles. I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI and over the last ten years, I’ve lived and worked in New York, Boston, Chicago, Singapore, Orange County and now LA! Why I moved so much – I love to travel and experience new places and I feel fortunate that I have been able to move around and see the world with the various companies I worked for and where my art projects led me.

Everything I am I owe to my parents, my older sister and my husband. My parents worked incredibly hard to build a new life here in the US coming from India. They sacrificed a lot of their dreams to give my sister and me an amazing life. Because of that, I felt the deep need to make them proud so I studied hard and went into an industry that assured steadiness and stability. On the outside, everything looked great: a prestigious spot in a financial leadership program, flying around the world to set up new business opportunities, closing million-dollar deals with an incredible team; but through it all, my inner artist was trying to get out at every chance. I sketched, wrote short stories, and occasionally took a very long lunch to visit the Met and MoMA during the week. Oddly enough, my turning/breaking point was actually a great interview and a job offer that I would have killed for! I talked about the opportunity with my husband Chris, and he actually encouraged me to turn down the offer and give my inner voice a chance to shine. The concept of working with metal literally came to me in a dream, when I saw the glint of silver across a room and was inspired to learn about metalsmithing which took the form of jewelry fabrication classes. I was fortunate enough to enroll in a jewelry design course taught by an established artist who became a mentor to me on my artistic journey. I remember the first time I saw the small flame appear in my jewelry torch and I feel like my creativity overtook me before my logical brain could jump in and stop me from creating. I haven’t looked back since. My hunger to create and explore different types of media has only grown!

My work as a metalwork artist, sculptor and designer is a direct reflection of what I value most in life: Joy, resiliency and togetherness. Inspired by the rigid yet delicate nature of metal, art is both my canvas and tool for personal transformation and liberation. I allow each different medium to create its own language. I explore boundaries and beauty as it reflects my experiences of being conditioned to conform to the rigidly institutionalized structures of gender roles, success and fulfillment. I’m always learning to find my own ways to break free from those structures.

Has it been a smooth road?
The drastic career change from corporate finance to art has challenged every aspect of my identity. There were so many things I took for granted that you get in a traditional career: a manager to give you feedback, an instant group of peers to befriend and learn with, a physical place to “go to work” day in and day out. It was painful to lose those things, and it took a long time for me to create my own group of peers and to develop a studio space and community that channels my creativity. During that period of early growth as an artist, I was very sensitive to feedback that felt like criticism, especially from loved ones. If it wasn’t for my husband Chris and my very best friend Abby, I may have quit before I even got started. I went for months at a time without talking to my family and a few close friends, simply because they told me in various ways that they were worried about me and I felt judged. I’ve come to understand that my family’s worry came from love – they saw their youngest daughter leaving a safe and prestigious career for one that is anything but (especially in my Indian-American community), and they were concerned for my livelihood and mental health. It’s been a five-year journey to build our relationship to the open and loving place that it is now. We still have our moments but it feels that we have a real adult relationship that’s built on trust and acceptance.

Also, no one really tells you “how to be an artist”; it can be freeing or frustrating depending on how you look at it. I’ll never forget preparing a submission portfolio for a solo artist gallery show opportunity only a few months into my artist journey: After scouring the internet for artist statement examples with my husband, I spent the next two days straight writing and photographing my work, starting with a blank computer screen and ending up with ten pages of carefully curated and perfectly formatted professional photographs and descriptions of my first pieces (fun little fact, I was selected at the gallery’s Emerging Artist of the Year for a solo show and all of my pieces found homes!). Then there was the time I accepted an invitation to share my sculptures at an “outdoor art gallery” in Orange County. I realized after we arrived that the art gallery was actually a church-sponsored craft fair, and I was selling my fine art sculptures next to a woman offering a shopping-bag full of handmade socks for $3. One of the biggest (literally) challenges I’ve faced was figuring out the logistics of ArtPrize. ArtPrize is the largest art competition in the world, and the piece I entered was “Joy Buddies”, a sculpture made of 120 pounds of cold-rolled copper and brass, fabricated over a four-month period. Joy Buddies serves as a reflection of the fiery joy we feel when we’re surrounded by those who lift us up in this world, and this concept is central to my artistic journey. So here I was in LA with a 5-foot tall, 120-pound sculpture that represented my very essence as an artist and a human, and I had to figure out how to get it packaged, shipped to Michigan unscathed, then set up and staged in the most highly-trafficked gallery of ArtPrize – over 15,000 people per day came through the doors of DeVos Grand Gallery. It all worked out though and it was an awesome time! I brought an amazing team with me and experienced the joy of connecting with people through my work at a level that I had never experienced before! When you jump off the beaten path to create your own way, every lesson is earned *and* learned.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mini But Mighty Art story. Tell us more about your work.
I named my art practice “Mini But Mighty Art.” My nickname at my last company was “Mini But Mighty” and I liked the idea that “great things can come from seemingly small people (like me!). My artwork is wide-ranging in terms of medium and the clients and collectors I work with. I find titles really limiting to my creative expression but I identify as a metalwork artist, sculptor and 3D designer. My practice is a mix of public art installation projects and private commissions so far. I predominately work with brass, copper and steel, I utilize traditional techniques of welding and forging while also employing more modern and technical ones including fire painting, 3D modeling and CNC machining to create a voice and aesthetic that is uniquely my own and evokes a sense of wonder and joy. I don’t limit myself to one medium and am drawn to creating art that’s sculptural from metalwork pieces to botanical sculptures to also digital designs. I definitely don’t limit myself to the medium, I focus on the message I’m trying to convey with each piece or project and then I let the medium come after that.

In times of trauma and upheaval, choosing joy in the darkest of moments can be a survival mechanism while also leading us to a place of thriving. That is what inspired me to create what feels like my most significant single sculpture so far, “Joy Buddies”. I entered this piece into ArtPrize in 2017 during a time of great political unrest and I wanted to create a piece about unity and infuse my playful imagination into it by asking “if joy was a figure what would it look like?”. It was my way of coping with the divisiveness and anger I was seeing in the US with Trump coming into the presidency (if I only knew how much more crazy things were going to get since then!) The Joy Buddies represent coming together and choosing to focus on joy as a way to help one another. The message really resonated with visitors and I ended up showcasing the Joy Buddies sculpture with galleries and brands around the country. These Buddies are special to me, and over the past three years since their debut they continue to inspire others and they help me to support, share love, and thrive as a woman of color working to serve this world with love and creativity.I didn’t realize it back then but I was focusing on joy as a way to survive the darkness and I still continue to showcase the Joy Buddies sculptures and make smaller versions today.

What I’m most proud of is not settling after I found myself unhappy after finding professional and material success, and having the courage to follow my heart. I never thought I would be making a career as an artist and I’m grateful for the close circle I have around me (truly such joy buddies!) that keeps me focused and grounded. What sets me apart is that I would have to say I’m equal parts artist and entrepreneur. I’m good with numbers, I like doing my taxes and I really enjoy the relationship and business building aspects of being a working artist. I see my artist journey as an everyday adventure to become a better Mini. This has led to a wide range of “wins” in a relatively short period of time: I’ve been commissioned by city governments to create public art installations, I’ve been awarded “Emerging Artist of the Year” in 2017 by a gallery close to where I grew up in Michigan, I’ve designed and installed five-figure custom metalwork sculptures for private collectors beginning with no art connections and no formal art background…I don’t say this to gloat but rather to illustrate what happened when I began to trust my intuition and heart.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The art industry has been slowly adapting to the spread of technology (social media, early augmented reality experiments, virtual pop-up shows) and I believe this will massively accelerate over the next 5-10 years. The three main drivers are the aversion of millennials (my generation) to outright ownership (instead preferring shared ownership or renting/subscribing), the proliferation of blockchain traceability and tokenized fractional ownership, and a growing sense of outrage in the Western world at the damage caused by capitalism and a resulting support of creatives and emotional leaders in the form of Patreon, crowdfunded performances, etc. The wild card has been the 100% transition to virtual art experiences driven by the spread of COVID.

Taken together, I anticipate a fundamental shift in the economic and logistic underpinnings of the art industry over the next 5-10 years. Specifically:

1) Artists will begin to embed digital, blockchain-based signatures in their work, which will allow them to partake in the increasing value of their work as it is sold, collected, and resold. Artists are already doing this and I see this becoming more popular.

2) Collectors will utilize this digital custody approach to own fractions of fine art (fractionalized ownership), or to temporarily obtain “original virtual renditions” of the art for display during parties, fundraisers, etc.

3) I believe financial empowerment for the artist is long overdue. Financial appreciation for artists in general will increase, driven both by the increased potential customer base from digital ownership and social media advertising as well as an overall societal appreciation for creatives who capture emotional and social issues in a way that compels action and change from those in power.

4) A growth in immersive, virtual exhibitions driven by the increasing digitization of art as well as payment for art, combined with a growth in virtual reality technology (and compounded by restrictions on travel due to COVID). Companies like Showfields and initiatives such as Today at Apple AR(t) Labs are great examples of building and testing this new audience engagement model in the art world.

With COVID, we have seen a massive shift in the fine art world that was inevitable: Curating a virtual art experience that feels truly accessible and engaging, rather than a default or add-on experience to a live gallery show event. I see less delineation between art, technology, politics and commerce. It’s already happening where artists are partnering with startups and political organizations to create new ways to incite community action.

We need to go deeper into community engagement to expand the vision for creating inclusive spaces. My career has been built in male-dominated industries of Finance, Tech and now Art. I was often the only woman and only person of color in the room so it’s really important to have diverse leadership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.minibutmightyart.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @minibutmightyart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minibutmightyart/

Image Credit:
Justin Galligher @galligher_photo
Kingmon Creative @kingmoncreative
Jon Haverstick Photography @jonhaverstickstudio

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