The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

A vertically oriented screenprint features a central gray grid against a dark purple background. Two men with medium-dark skin, tinted in blue and purple, stand with hands on hips. To the left, a translucent white figure floats among fine geometric lines. At the top right, a cat's face is boxed. A yellow band crowns the grid, while an orange circle sits within a gray shape. Text below reads "I'M Funky, but Clean."

I'm Funky, But Clean

1972

Lev Mills

(American, 1938–2021)
America
color screenprint
Sheet: 77.5 x 55.9 cm (30 1/2 x 22 in.)
Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2024.59
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

After returning from his time in London, Lev Mills had a long career as an art educator at Spelman College.

Description

This print features a self-portrait by artist Lev Mills alongside an eclectic selection of found imagery. Active as a screenprinter in London during the 1960s and 70s, Mills often used such unexpected juxtapositions drawn from popular culture as a means of creating what one art historian has described as a “Black power aesthetic.” Lev studied with master printmaker Stanley William Hayter before discovering screenprint during a fellowship at London’s Slade School, and it quickly became his preferred medium.
  • 2021–24
    Estate of the artist
    2024
    (Lusenhop Fine Art, Cleveland Heights, OH sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=I'm Funky, But Clean|url=false|author=Lev Mills|year=1972|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.59