Michael Harrison, better known as “Myqi,” is a Hawaii based artist residing on the island of Oahu. Myqi was born in Denver, Colorado where he spent his youth. At the age of 14, Myqi began working as an airbrush artist at the local mall, kick starting his career in the arts. Growing up in a predominately black neighborhood during the beginning of the graffiti movement, he was quickly influenced by the renegade art form. Upon leaving Colorado to attend college at Chaminade University of Honolulu in 1989, he continued work as an airbrush artist while studying Interior Design. In 1994, he graduated from Chaminade University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design and briefly attended the University of Hawaii as an unclassified graduate student in the art department.
Upon finishing his studies, Myqi began working as a freelance artist and designer, specializing in murals and custom architectural surface design, which he continues to do to this day. Myqi has also worked as an art teacher for the Honolulu Academy of the Arts, “Art to Go” program, where he orchestrated collaborative ceramic mural projects for public housing facilities in Honolulu, as well as with the International Hospitality Society, working with exchange students from around the globe. Myqi has also created ceramic programs for various schools including Loveland Academy School for Autism, where he spent 5 years developing a therapy based ceramic program, as well as, developing an after school ceramic program emphasizing Hawaiian culture for Halau Ku Mana, New Century Charter School.
Currently the president of “Lift Design Studio,” Myqi continues his passion for creative collaboration, specializing in custom multi-media fabrications for commercial and residential applications.
As an artist, Myqi’s new works echo the multidimensional spaces beyond this material reality. These installations are referred to by the artist as “The Spirit Hive Series,” a body of work that seeks to express the journey of the Soul Pixel upon its traversing of death, in search of a place to reunite and rest with loved one lost and found again, awaiting the gestation of yet another form to be expressed. If given the chance to label to the artist work, I would call it natural expressionism. This technique speaks of the accumulation and eventual decay of the natural world,. By applying multiple layers of medium, only to be scraped away, he reveals and image that becomes a journey for the creator as well as the observer. It is this journey that reveals our true nature as beings of light and shadow, dancing between the folds of space and time!