Mia Lee
Mia Lee | |
|---|---|
 Lee in 2025 | |
| Born | 1992 (age 32–33) |
| Education | University of Illinois |
| Occupation | Artist |
Mia Lee (or Mía Lee, born 1992) is an American artist who works primarily in painting and textile design. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Her artwork is cartoonish with themes of the African diaspora from her own experiences. She has had several high-profile clothes design collaborations.
Background
[edit]Lee was born in 1992 in Chicago, where she was raised.[1] Her family is from the Caribbean island of Roatán, off the coast of Honduras, and she is regarded as a native of Chatham,[2] the Chicago neighborhood in which she was raised.[3] She has lived in New York City and Los Angeles, before returning to Chicago.[4] Her grandparents moved from Roatán to Chicago's South Side in the 1960s.[3] Lee's work arises from her maternal influences. Her mother was a painter. One grandmother was also a painter (and pianist), while the other was a seamstress.[5] Although her grandmother was a painter, she earned her bachelor's degree at Tuskegee University for her musical study of the piano.[6] Lee has studied piano under her grandmother's tutelage.[3] She studied costume design at University of Illinois.[6] Lee created her own doll fashions by sewing scraps from her seamstress grandmother.[6]
She has become a figurative artist and a designer.[1] Her contemporary art presents cartoonish figures in expressions of her lived experiences and emotional states.[5] Lee views her art and designs as work created from the perspective of a Caribbean Black woman who was raised on the South Side of Chicago.[7][4] Her work repeatedly uses three characters – The Gentleman, The Lady, and The Demon[3] – and she uses the color black for skin tone.[6]
Work
[edit]
Lee's COVID-19 pandemic-induced foray into social media facilitated her first artwork sale of Gentleman in Green in 2021.[6] Despite the Non-fungible token hype during the pandemic, she never got into it.[4]
In 2022, Lee collaborated with Chance The Rapper at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) for "Yah Know" (2022, with King Promise) which was a promotional single for his Star Line (2025) album.[8][1] Her art became the cover art for the single, and she was in the song's music video.[7][9] The artwork, which portrays a black couple with a burning house as a backdrop, is regarded as an updated version of American Gothic from the perspective of the African diaspora.[2] Her collaboration that began at the MOCA, culminated in a trip with Chance and Vic Mensa to Mensa's fatherland, Ghana.[2] King Promise is also Ghanaian.[10]
She has designed clothing collections for Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom and Nike.[2] Her fashion collection for Urban Outfitters was considered to be genderless.[6][3][5] In an interview, she stated that she saw Chad Ochocinco wearing one of her jacket designs during an interview with Shannon Sharpe.[7] She has been inspired by creative artists of various ages such as Jimi Hendrix, Prince and Zoë Kravitz.[5] George Condo and Jean-Michel Basquiat are artistic influences who are known for work that is similarly cartoonish.[6][3] Takashi Murakami is also an inspiration.[4]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c "Yah Know". Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ a b c d Beltran, Ximena N. and Quan Kiu (August 2023). "Best Emerging Artist Interpreting the Black Diaspora". Chicago. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f Chokrane, Boutayna (December 14, 2023). "Mia Lee turns moments of stillness into art". Chicago Reader. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ a b c d Davis, Ahmad (November 15, 2022). "Mía Lee is dedicated to representing Black girls across the globe through her art". Revolt. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Mia Lee for Urban Outfitters". Urban Outfitters. May 10, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g Newman, Scarlett (February 7, 2023). "For This Chicago Artist, the Southside Is Where It All Starts". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved September 26, 2025.
- ^ a b c Idowu, Angel. "Artist Mia Lee on Making Her Work Accessible: 'I Want to Make Sure the Door is Open. Art is for Everyone'". WTTW. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ Dionne, Zach (November 18, 2022). "Chance the Rapper Shares New Song and Video "YAH Know" on the Road to 'Star Line Gallery'". Complex Networks. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ Paul, Larisha (November 18, 2022). "Chance the Rapper Ponders Meaning of Home and Lineage With King Promise in 'Yah Know' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 27, 2025.
- ^ Breihan, Tom (November 18, 2022). "Chance The Rapper – "YAH Know" (Feat. King Promise)". Stereogum. Retrieved September 27, 2025.