Bizarrely Beautiful: Inside the Surrealist Artwork of Mikayla Hoffman

WORDS / KODY FORD

University of Arkansas alumna Mikayla Hoffman had a choice – the safe route of the Walton Business School or something more exciting, the life of an artist. She chose the latter. She never created much art during high school in her native Missouri, but that fateful decision has lead her down a very interesting creative path.

While she started out as a graphic design major, the hours in front of the computer took their toll so she took up painting.

“I started painting and it was messy and physical and felt natural right away,” she said. “I enjoyed painting landscapes the most, my favorites being the ones that I remembered from dreams or nightmares. Then I gravitated to ceramics, which was even more messy, physical, and primal. It took me a while to discern exactly what I wanted to say with clay, but I’ve been working with the figure for about a year and a half now and don’t see myself slowing down anytime soon.”

Hoffman’s recent work includes surrealist busts and heads, each struggling with their physical and internal problems.

She said, “They seem inhuman or post-human, yet display inner conflict in a way that is very human and relatable. Through their lack or excess of features they display a range of emotions; smug yet sad, curious yet reserved, confused yet bored. The deformities and non-realistic flesh tones make these beings out to be the ‘other,’ but also force us to empathize with them, due to their abnormalities, which could exist in humans. They are the other because they look different, but when one considers how many they are viewing, the human then becomes the other because they are outnumbered.”

One notable feature of these pieces are the use of human teeth, which imbue the work with a frightening yet fascinating dash of reality. She gets the teeth from her mother, a dental hygienist.

“She will collect those poor, unwanted teeth from her office or an oral surgeon and give them to me to create a new life for, or maybe it’s that I give them a proper resting place,” Hoffman said. “Growing up talking about teeth around the dinner table with my mom started my affinity towards them from such a young age.”

Now that she has graduated from UA, Hoffman plans to stay around Fayetteville and work in her home studio with an eye on creating more work, curating shows and being active in the rich art community of Northwest Arkansas.

INSTAGRAM:  @martychesp