Learn more about the 10 Selected Artists who will showcase their work at the fourth annual In the Paint art exhibition in February of 2025.
What and who has inspired and enabled you to become an artist?
My art is inspired by my culture, roots, and nature's vibrant colors and textures. This connection to my culture serves as a way to keep my home close to me. Raised by my grandmother in Mexico, I grew up with a backyard filled with fruit trees, animals, and flowers. Painting nature brings me closer to her.
My work highlights the strength and resilience of women, as words often fail me due to dyslexia. Painting serves as my therapeutic outlet, allowing me to express myself and navigate trauma.
Describe your art practice and how your journey in the art world has evolved over time?
My art explores the absence and yearning caused by my father's immigration from Guatemala to the U.S. Using old letters, personal memories, and photos, I reinterpret the father-daughter relationship I never had. Distorted objects in my work highlight fragmented memories of a young age.
I aim to connect with the universal experience of longing for a distant parent and understanding others' shared struggles. My journey has evolved in the usage of materials and the artists I have met during shows.
How do you connect to Southern California and what do you love about living in the Los Angeles region?
I am a second generation Angelino, born in whittier, went to USC, and now works with the LA Lanscape and LA Times as inspiration for my art. I love the collison of sunshine + noir + realism + fantasy and have made a system and a diagram based around LA for how I create my work. So “sunshine” and “noir” are the Y-axis, and “realism” and “fantasy” are the X-axis. I love little vignettes and capturing them in paint and video. I also am obsessed with being outside at sunset everyday.
What and who has inspired and enabled you to become an artist?
Honestly, as an African American artist it's not about seeing a specific artist or person; it's the absence of people who look like me that inspires me the most. This drives me every day to push further and break down barriers.
Describe your art practice and how your journey in the art world has evolved over time?
Since I began making art, my style has evolved to incorporate a more technical and conceptual approach. While my early work primarily featured stylistic and gestural figures, I later sought to infuse a sense of realism into my art. My passion for drawing and painting the human figure has always been strong, but it was during my bachelor's degree that I discovered how to use my art as a vehicle for analysis of my past and family relationships to discover how they affect me in the present.
What and who has inspired and enabled you to become an artist?
My father was my first example of what an artist was. He painted religiously throughout my entire childhood so I spent days watching and trying to emulate him and his style while also trying to discover my own. My parents made a conscious effort to create an environment in which I felt comfortable to express myself creatively and for that, I am eternally grateful.
Describe your art practice and how your journey in the art world has evolved over time?
At 15, I began my journey as a self-taught artist with just a piece of paper and a pencil. Over the years, I honed my drawing skills, turning blank canvases into intricate works of art. My passion for creativity never waned, and at 32, I discovered the captivating world of pyrography. With determination and self-discipline, I taught myself this new medium, transforming ordinary pieces of wood into stunning, burned art.
How do you connect to Southern California and what do you love about living in the Los Angeles region?
LA is where I became an adult, where I decided to become an artist, where my son was born just last month. It’s had a profound effect on my life. I’ve lived in south central riding my skateboard to className at USC, moved to downtown where I found a studio to paint in, went to OTIS to get my masters in Culver. Moved to Ktown where I met the love of my life and now I live in Diamond bar where we are raising our first son. A classic LA love story ending in the suburbs. LA will always be special to me.
Describe your art practice and how your journey in the art world has evolved over time?
I escaped the Vietnamese Communist by boat in 1981 and resided in the USA. Working part time and studying full time, it took me a long time to become an artist. I express my life appreciation through my art. In my creating process, I like to look back to who I am on this earth. I often come up with ideas and composition for my new paintings during the days I drive through long traffic to go to work. Sitting in my studio, I recall those ideas then express them onto my canvases.
Describe your art practice and how your journey in the art world has evolved over time?
My art practice, centered on my asexual identity and Vietnamese heritage, explores themes uncommonly depicted in art. Over time, I've evolved to express these narratives, shedding light on post-war Vietnamese experiences and asexuality's nuances, aiming to foster understanding and representation in the art world.
