Artist Statement
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I am a self-taught artist whose practice is rooted in the pursuit of dynamic balance — between art and life, stillness and movement, the visible and the unseen.
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For more than a decade, my painting was reductive — a deeply introspective practice of simplifying and stripping away every extraneous mark until only the essential remained. After years of inward exploration, I have shifted toward focused expansion, opening my eyes to the world and the color within it.
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Natural Progression is the result of this evolution. This ongoing series of large-scale paintings begins with humble moments — a sunrise, a patch of cactus along the sidewalk, a halved strawberry. From these observations, I create expansive fields of color, transforming my signature calligraphic mark-making into emphatic expressions of stillness and movement happening simultaneously.
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Each piece unfolds from lived experience toward something universal, connecting daily rituals to timeless cycles of growth and change. Beneath these layers lies a hidden history: original marks first made on a projector, then scraped away after their cast shadows are outlined and filled with color. The scrapings, preserved in small vials, become artifacts — the painting’s shadows — physical reminders that nothing is permanent, and that even what has been removed can have lasting impact. The ephemeral nature of my linework is mirrored in the experiences I offer through a meal — shared moments in time, preserved by memory, but never to be experienced in quite the same way again.
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My studio is no longer just a place to make paintings but a space where experience is created — where art is lived with. The connections made here often extend beyond the studio, carried into new contexts as my work moves from my home to a collector’s. Time is our most precious resource, and sharing it is a gift. For those who choose to spend some of theirs with me, I offer the opportunity to take home a part of my world. Because of the personal nature of my work and the quiet rhythm of my life, my paintings will never be available through galleries or fairs; their transactional nature removes much of the hidden radiance that only emerges through shared experience.
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Artist Bio
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Mike was born in Ann Arbor, MI in 1984 to Korean immigrants. His mother landed in Detroit's Cass Corridor and his father in Ypsilanti, MI, both during the early 70's. Mike is a Cheongju Han, also referred to as "House of Han", a noble Korean family (yangban) with royal ancestry dating back 1000 years. As a Cheongju Han, Mike is related to six Korean queens, and master calligrapher Han Seok Bong.
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Mike has lived all over the US, but for several of his formative years he lived in Connecticut and got to experience NYC during the late 80s and early 90s. The graffiti that layered the city and the work of Keith Haring captivated Han as the aesthetic wasn't unlike the cartoons and animated characters he grew up with. Haring's Pop Shop in Soho proved to be a huge inspiration for Han as an artist. As he grew older, he started to appreciate the Mid-Century Modern masterpieces he had the great privilege of living with as his father worked for Herman Miller prior to the Knoll. Han would be remiss not to credit Noguchi, Eames, and Mies Van der Rohe, for their influence on his work as well.
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Mike didn't consider himself an artist until a soul searching trip he made to Korea with his parents in 2008 after nearly taking his own life with an attempted suicide while away for college. In Korea he learned about his heritage in earnest for the first time and by chance got to exhibit in a group show for the first time in Seoul during his trip. In Korea he experienced a masterful calligrapher painting and a craftsman on the street carving his name into a small wood block to be used as his official signature at the bank. He fell in love with the traditional architecture, was overwhelmed by the food, and felt a connection to a part of himself that he shunned from 5th grade through college as he traded his Asian-ness for devout assimilation to white culture in the hopes that he would be accepted as an American.
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As an artist Han has been working to rebuild his identity and confidence in his person and his culture(s) as an American with Korean heritage.
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Mike has exhibited artwork in LA, Seoul, Detroit, and Miami. He has created work for clients in NYC, Chicago, and Osaka. He has been commissioned to paint in Florence, Italy for Pitti Uomo, Bloomingdale's 150th Anniversary for their iconic windows, Shinola's flagship store, the Detroit Pistons, Google for Startups, Ford Motor Co., Fiat, LinkedIn, Somerset Collection, and has also created art installations for Red Bull, vitaminwater, and ArtPrize.
Han has had paintings acquired by Mercedes Benz Financial Services, Huntington Bank HQ, Henry Ford Health Systems, Shinola Hotel, The Daxton Hotel, and Paramount Pictures for use in a feature film. He has collaborated with brands like Carhartt, Eleven Madison Home, MarxModa (on MillerKnoll products), Model No. Furniture, SEE Eyewear, Leon Speakers, Gardner White Furniture, Coffeehaus, and Mothfire Beer.
​Mike has made the front page of the Detroit News and the cover of SEEN Magazine, has been featured on BBC World News, Dwell, Cool Hunting, designboom, Architecture's Digest, World of Interiors, Apartment Therapy, Design Milk, Cultured Mag, Urban Outfitters Blog, Detroit Home, Live in the D, and the Detroit Free Press.
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Mike has been an awards juror for ArtPrize, Ann Arbor Street Art Fair (The Original), as well as The CSCA's Creative Best Awards. Han was the recipient of a Red Bull Micro Grant and an Art Prize Equity Grant. He is currently a steering committee member of the Detroit Partnership for Arts Education and Official Creative for the AASAF.
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Since 2021, Han has helped raise over $350,000 for charitable causes in his effort to make a positive impact with his artistic practice connecting his artwork tangibly to its purpose. Mike was the keynote speaker for the 2023 APACC Detroit Gala, was a guest speaker for Strategic Staffing Solution's all hands meeting and was featured on the popular podcast The Good Life Project.
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Han is currently living and working out of his Studio/Gallery in LA and frequents Detroit where he has a secondary studio.​​​​
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