Mikal Hameed’s work not only calls on us to see it, but more importantly, to listen to it. His large-scale, hi-design pieces combine elements of visual artistry, music history and modern furniture design to create functional mixed media sculptures that present music as he believes it was meant to be heard, out loud, as a more shared human experience.

The child of musicians, his youth reflects the sound experience his work explores today. His father, known mainly as Young Jessie, was a jazz, rock and R&B singer and songwriter who recorded the original single "Mary Lou," later covered by Steve Miller Band, Bob Seger, and Frank Zappa among others. Hameed’s mother Barbara Jean Prince was also a musician, the two meeting because their bands often performed together. His uncle’s group Otis Day and the Nights, originally appeared in the 1978, National Lampoon's Animal House film. Music quite literally surrounded his upbringing, and the drive to preserve the experience for others, is something deeply rooted within his personal history.

Hameed grew up in South Central Los Angeles. His own personal relationship with music and art has varied from graffiti to punk bands to spoken word, an art form that in 1999 brought him to the Apollo theater in New York City to perform. He soon moved to Brooklyn and pursued a career in production design for music videos with clients including artists like Jay-Z, Mike Meyers, Moby, Sting and Liza Minelli, among others. 

Following in the hip-hop tradition, much of Hameed’s current work explores taking one thing and reworking it to create a new art form with a new purpose. He often uses the iconic boombox speaker, or a DJ turntable, and alters the platform through which the music is projected. His powered speaker based sculptures, like much of his work, allow for an interactive experience where viewers share sounds publicly. By accessing the power of music and endless design possibilities, Hameed continues to elevate his varied, forward thinking visions for mixed media sculpture.