Areli Arellano is a Los Angeles-based artist working in a variety of mediums. Inspired by Chicanx culture, Areli's work revolves around social justice issues regarding race and gender.

@yosoyareli
www.areliarellano.com

Emilia Cruz is a first generation Mexican American artist born in San Diego, Ca, 1993. She moved to Simi Valley at the age of three but spent most of her childhood weekends travelling back and forth to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
 
The upbringing she had within these divergent environments ignited an interest for her own dual cultural identities which is often referenced in her work.  Cruz also makes it a point to celebrate women of color, especially those who she has close relationships with. She works primarily with acrylic or oil paints to make her vibrant portraits and figurative pieces come to life.  
Cruz is currently enrolled in the Illustration program at Art Center College of Design. In the beginning of the year she began to teach art classes for kids at Plaza de la Raza’s Performing and Visual Arts school located in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles. She has recently been commissioned by CNN en Español for Proyecto Ser Humano (Humanity Project) and for an upcoming Netflix series called Gente-fied. Her work has been displayed at many galleries along the west coast including Seattle, WA, Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Diego, CA.
“My work exemplifies the importance of representation, specifically for women of color. I am exploring different ways in which I can depict vulnerability, self-love, and empowerment.”

@cruzemilia
emiliacruz.com

Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Mexican and Russain artist and muralist Erica Friend mixes her bi-cultural roots and postmodern perspective to produce  art that attempts to balance her sometimes conflicting but complimentary worlds. Her imagination, life experience and heritage inform her artwork and guide her practice.

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@insomniart

insomniartist86@gmail.com

Emerging International Artist John Galan resides in Ventura County California. His work focuses on the inextricable connection between humankind and natural world.  Characteristics include: vibrant, high chroma hues influenced by the artist’s Mexican heritage.  Galan’s paintings are highly symbolic, depicting personal memories and ideas including underlying themes & motifs influenced by geographical location, seasons, weather, personality and culture.

Such work strives to tap into the psychological aspects of the mind hoping to trigger a sense of unified subconsciousness. This connectivity in turn, relates to the Carl Jung’s idea of “collective consciousness”.  An idea of deep culture rooted in common beliefs and moral ethics. Galan’s artwork expands on those archetypes of universal connectivities as a means to explore and preserve his own cultural roots.
 

“The Brush found my fingertips before I can remember anything else. Every time I paint, I am discovering a new part of me, an extension of myself which I can share with the world.”

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@johngalanart

www.johngalan.com

 

The Artwork of Rick Ortega transcends time and takes us on a mystical journey into an ancient way of life. His paintings reveal an array of indigenous symbols from Mexico’s past, turning his colorful compositions into modern day codices which reveal the history, myths, legends and spiritual beliefs of the Mexica people, better known as the Aztecs. Each painting captures the heritage of his ancestors, who held the arts with high regard, truly believing that the Tlacuilo (The Painter) had his heart rooted in God and would transfer the symbols of divinity to his paintings. This ancient tradition of creativity is the root of Mr. Ortega’s art. In his paintings we see and feel a deep spiritual presence illuminating his compositions, with a focus on the beautiful artistry the Aztecas surrounded their lives with, along with their deep devotion to the gods who ruled the Heavens, the Earth, and the Underworld. It has been written that the Aztecs were conquered and their way of life destroyed, yet here we see that their Spirit still lives and breathes  through the artistry of this twenty-first century Tlacuilo, The painter,  Rick  Ortega.

@rickortegaart
www.rickortegaart.com

Tamara Ramos is a contemporary illustrator based in Los Angeles and is currently attending Otis college of art and Design where she Majors in Illustration and minors in Community arts and engagement.

@a.t_1994
www.tamararamosart.com

​Coming soon...

 

Born 1973 in Southern California, Sheila Rodriguez grew up in the Los Angeles area where she currently works and resides. Rodriguez received her MFA within the Fiber program at CSULB in fall of 2016 and her BA from CSULB in 2013 with an emphasis in drawing and painting. Being introduced to the fiber department lead her to explore the field further as she had a rich cultural history in crochet and embroidery. She has shown work at the Museum of Latin American Art, the Western Colorado Center for the Arts, as well as with Mujeres de Maiz at Self Help Graphics. Rodriguez believes that by combining traditional fiber techniques and painting her artwork becomes an external validation of ancestral memory and personal quest.
 
Currently a majority of her work is over-laid with a sense of the Chicana viewpoint. The day-to-day experience of working-class Chicanas is replete with the practices within the domestic space or home. The sphere of the domestic includes home embellishments, home altar maintenance, healing traditions, and personal feminine pose or style. For many Chicanas, the development of home shrines is the focus for the refinement of domestic skills such as embroidery, crochet, flower-making, and hand-painting. Fascinated by the impact of architectural form and structure on the psychology of the human environment and by the impact of the language of spatial relationships Rodriguez focuses on ideas of home and dislocation.

@sheilagarrettrodriguez
www.sheilarodgriguezart.com

Cintia was born and raised in Mexico City where she worked in the entertainment industry. Learning English in the US as an adult gave her a unique perspective on the language’s nuances. She employs video, performance and photography in the way the mass media does, using humor and wit to delve into issues of immigration, cultural stereotypes, identity and being bilingual. As both an insider and outsider, Cintia looks at the machinations of American culture. 

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@cintia_a_segovia

cintiasegovia.com