Mike Leavitt: Good Buy, Cruel World
Vashon Center for the Arts
November 7-30
Opening Reception: Friday, November 7th, 5-8pm
Artist Talk: November 9: 2pm (Free)

In "Good Buy, Cruel World", Mike Leavitt reflects on thirteen years of transformation — from dismissing Vashon’s art scene as “a bunch of part-time hobbyists” to discovering its deep, communal power. Once immersed in New York’s high-profile gallery world, the artist found on this island the freedom to take things apart: televisions, childhood myths, and the consumerist icons that shaped a fractured nation.

Through works like Empire Peaks and Trash Talking, this exhibition dismantles systems of Capital and Consumer Isms — questioning who profits, who is left out, and what happens to value when art becomes both commodity and protest. Each piece interrogates the machinery of power, wealth, and identity with sharp wit and emotional honesty.

Good Buy, Cruel Word is not a farewell. It’s a reorientation — a call to reclaim meaning through art and imagination. The title plays on the duality of “goodbye” and “good buy,” urging viewers to recognize that every act of creation and every purchase is a choice: to perpetuate the old world or to invest in a better one.

Anchored in satire, resilience, and activism, the exhibition explores how artists survive — often without unions, protections, or pay — yet continue to build culture, foster empathy, and keep communities alive. Art becomes both survival and rebellion, offering connection in a time of disconnection.

Good Buy, Cruel Word invites the audience to look inward and outward: to see that creativity itself is a radical act, that every gesture has value, and that loving the arts is, now more than ever, a form of activism.

Seattle-born artist Mike Leavitt transforms consumer waste into sharp, satirical sculpture. Living on Vashon Island since 2012, he reclaims discarded corporate materials to expose the absurdities of capitalism, technology, and pop culture. Through humor and craftsmanship, his exhibition Good Buy! Cruel World turn recycling into rebellion — finding meaning, empathy, and resistance in what others throw away.

See online: https://bit.ly/MikeLeavitt
Gallery hours: Wed - Sun 12-5pm (closed Mon/Tues)
Artist Talk November 9, 2pm Free
(Gallery Talks made possible by the generosity of Kathi Jenkins Estate)