Meet MMIX

We had the good fortune of connecting with MMIX and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi MMIX, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Creativity, authenticity, and curiosity. There are a lot of things we could be doing that might improve our profitability, but would compromise what we’re truly interested in exploring as artists. A lot of art at popups we attend is centered around existing IPs and, no hate, that is a great way to make money. But that isn’t what we’re about. Our interests, and our art (glitch art), are very niche and we’ve accepted that as part of who we are and really want to keep leaning into that as the most authentic version of who we are as artists. There are also subtle spiritual and identity-related themes in our art. For example, most of our portraiture so far has depicted LGBTQ+ people. Our nature-based manipulations are often infused with spiritual energy and are influenced by folk spiritworking approaches. But the fact that our images are glitched is meant to highlight the feeling that there is something wrong with the simulation we seem to be living in. People who resonate with our art seem to feel that wrongness, instinctively. We are fascinated by the dialogue between organic subjects and how, in a way, technology “queers” this organic nature and adds filters of distortion and reinterpretation.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Each of us (Rust + L) attended performing arts schools growing up and continued to follow and explore our respective disciplines in the decades since–Rust going to college for Music Composition and L continuing education in a variety of dance forms and later pursuing comedy and immersive performance. L has an undergraduate concentration in European Art History. Rust wrote and produced (including directing, performing, engineering, music, and sound design) the audio drama “Dream State” from Tynan Media in 2017-2018, and soon after joined an underground immersive production as video/co-producer, with L also having been an ongoing immersive performer and character part writer from 2015-2020. Together as MMIX, we create photography/video-based work that presents the tension between natural themes and digital technology. We draw inspiration from the heyday of alternative music videos of the 80s and 90s, as well as glitch art innovators like Rob Sheridan. Our collaborative work (which began in earnest early in the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020) has its pillars in the misrepresentation of reality, malfunctioning technology, the vulnerable oddness of existence, and allowing a respectful space for the darker aspects of the self. Despite the digital nature of our finished work, we avoid A.I. or Photoshop in our creation process.

In pursuing our art professionally, we’ve had to remain nimble and responsive to customer needs and also changing times. When we were deep in the pandemic we created a lot of “content.” Now, that’s much less sustainable energetically. A lot of people currently have “content burnout” and we find that thinking about our creations as “content” is also derogatory to the work, exhausting, and takes us out of a creative process in a lot of ways. So we want to keep focus on the idea that less is more, and on quality over quantity. We also hugely value personal connection and face-to face interaction, even if it’s over electronic media. So personally having the ability to tell the stories behind our creations makes a huge difference to us.

We’ve also had to pivot around changing work/life balance. Early pandemic we had the ability to create in an unbridled way. Then Rust began a course of going back to school is 2021 and life changed to a really grueling routine where L had to run more of the business and marketing side of MMIX. In 2024, Rust decided to leave school, and the focus was on full-time, shared creativity again. So the pendulum seems to swing often, and full-time artistry is challenging and financially precarious, so we are constantly needing to think creatively about how to make it not so.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We like to hang out at Lawless Brewery in North Hollywood. There’s a nice little artist community there called “Weirdos of NoHo” that shows their art every Wednesday evening, all wonderful and delightful people. Plus there’s an open mic for comedians and a bluegrass jam circle, as well as vendor events there regularly on weekends–the brewery is really trying to make it a community space. Not to far from there is Player One, a bar/arcade that has really fun retro vibes. Some of our favorite goth clubs happen at Risky Business (Obelisk) and Boardners (Wenzday’s Party, Bar Sinister). A couple times a month, an LGBTQ collective known as Queer X events puts on themed events in Hollywood and West Hollywood. We’ve enjoyed karaoke at The Roguelike in Burbank and the Good Nite, and the witchy-themed burlesque event Belle, Book & Candle that happens at El Cid the third Wednesday of the month. Then we might wrap it up with a visit to a comedy show or open mic at Tao Comedy Studio in Ktown, a premier woman-owned comedy performance and learning space in LA. Got some witchy/occult needs? We could visit The Green Man store and The Crooked Path in Burbank, or visit a popup market called Magick Market about once a month at Unearthed Shop in Glendale.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our first shoutout is to Rob Sheridan–as an artist he has inspired us in so many ways and he and his wife Stephanie have cultivated a phenomenal community of artistic support on the platform Discord.

Our second big mention is to our die-hard supporters who have continued giving us love and financial encouragement since we started this collaboration during the pandemic.

There are so many others who have lifted us up individually and as a creative duo along the way, but too many to name!

Website: https://mmix-art.com

Instagram: @mmix_art

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094285733885

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mmix_art

Other: https://linktr.ee/mmix_art

Image Credits
All images captured/created by MMIX (Rust MacCarthy & L Faunt)