Very rarely can we scroll through our Instagram feeds and be stunned by what we come across. That is, until MLMA entered the scene.
Korean artist Me Love Me A Lot, or MLMA for short, is subverting traditional beauty standards by using her body as a canvas for her eccentric artwork. MLMA is truly a jack-of-all-trades.
She has modeled for high fashion campaigns, including Calvin Klein and Margiela. She is also the chief designer of SKØØT, a streetwear brand known for its bright color schemes and shocking patterns.
MLMA also crafts jarring, outlandish makeup looks that never fail to amaze. In one look, she dons a single, piercing light blue contact lens and bubblegum pink blush with the bolded words “STAY HOME” written under her eyes in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. She finishes off the look with burgundy lipstick and curled hair.
In another image, she draws small black stars and dots across her cheeks and red circles around her eyes. She matches her wavy brows with curly gelled baby hairs. She wears bright red hair clips, which complement her smeared lipstick and messily painted eye shadow.
Her artwork implies a sense of disorder that appears unplanned.
“When an idea comes to mind, I do it. I never squeeze my head too hard to get my art,” MLMA said in an interview with Paper.
MLMA grew up in a working class neighborhood in Seoul, Korea. Art served as an escape from the destitution around her.
“I used to make barbies out of toilet paper,” she said to i-D. “I had no opportunities or support. My parents were so strict. Art was a dream. My first and last Christmas present I was spoiled with [were] an eraser and pencil.”
According to Vogue, MLMA said that most of her physical supplies are from the dollar store, such as elastic bands, face paint, and eyeliner, and that she finds joy from creating uncanny art with everyday materials.
“The tools don’t make [the work] good, the artist makes it good,” she told the magazine.
MLMA’s art is completely unique in that it blurs the line between the beautiful and the bizarre — like the provocative, two-faced image of herself, one with a blank expression blended with another demonic, blood-stained version of herself.
“My life and situations influence me. I don’t get influenced by art that’s been done before. The work on @mlma_art is 100 percent me. That’s what I would describe as the purest art I do,” MLMA said in Paper.
But MLMA’s work does not stop there. She is also a music producer and rapper, who is pushing the confines of genre with her new single “You Can’t Kill Me I’m Alive.”
The release of this single marks her transition from Soundcloud rapper to a new style of genre fluidity. The eerie echo and grating shrieks produce a haunting sound that perfectly defines her artistry.
She also directed and edited the music video for her new single, where she cuts anime-style scenes with clips of herself wearing gruesome, bloody makeup.
“It’s crazy and chaotic, but that’s me,” MLMA said to Paper
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