Mikey Yates (b. 1992, Sulzbach Rosenberg, Germany) is a Filipino-American artist living and working in Kansas City, MO. Yates grew up moving from place to place with his family of six. During those early years, Mikey used to draw characters that colored his life: Gary Payton from the Sonics, Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, and Ryu from Street Fighter. He continues this practice today, but instead of strictly rendering fictional characters and sports superstars, he paints family members and friends, vivid memories of his past, familial mythology, and day-to-day experiences—often combining them all to create physical objects where they coexist.

Yates works from an ever-evolving archive consisting of screenshots from home videos, fragile, warped family photos, and personal snapshots. These images often serve as starting points, with textures and characters from the archive blended in the same way a musician samples records. He combines them with painting from memory, direct observation, and imagination. These collage-like paintings convey the imprint of place, hybridity, loss, home, and the everyday.The artist’s intent is to tell his story—the layers, contradictions, and complexities of both his own experiences and his family’s history—by creating physical containers of his inner world to commune and connect with others.

Mikey Yates’ work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Taymour Grahne Projects, London and online (2023, 2021 and 2020), COMA Gallery, Sydney (2023), Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles (2023), and RULE Gallery, Texas (2021). His work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions including Columbus Museum of Art, The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), Boulder Art Museum, Charlotte Street Foundation, Steven Zevitas Gallery, and 1969 Gallery among others. He has appeared in publications including: Juxtapoz, BOOOOOOOM, HypeArt, Forbes, ARTMAZE, and Create Magazine. His work is featured in the Columbus Museum of Art collection.