Haley Fonfa is a 23-year-old artist from Las Vegas, Nevada. Fonfa resided in LA for many years where she finished her BA in Fine Arts, Individualized Studies in Illustration at Loyola Marymount University. Currently, she works at Debbie Allen Dance Academy, a 501(c)3 non profit organization, as their development manager.
"As an artist I have found the freedom and voice I never knew I had before. I devoted my life to art at a pretty old age but it has completely become my passion over the last five years, defining the person I am today. I went to college not calling myself an artist at all or even thinking I would ever become one. Art has changed how I view the world and how I carry myself, it's healing meditation, challenging discipline, self encouraging love and more. I highly believe everyone in the world should create something. My art connects motion with emotion as I depict nostalgic scenes and images with vibrant animated colors and unique brush strokes. At age 21, I lost my older brother Brett, one of my biggest supporters and inspirations who truly sparked my desire to be an artist. I believe several parts of him have been passed down to me especially his power to bring people together in a group, his love for all things nostalgic, and his undying passion for every art form. Some of my other biggest inspirations come from women, film, nature and dance. Since 2018, I have been curating art exhibitions in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas with artists of all mediums to not only bring together as many people as possible through different forms of art, but also come together to recognize and appreciate women and artists while giving back to the community."
<3 Haley Fonfa
https://artfonfa.com/
https://artfonfa.com/
Kaitlyn Wallace is currently studying for her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Oregon. She is a 23 year old interdisciplinary artist from Las Vegas, Nevada and working out of Las Vegas, NV currently.
"I am interested in making art that facilitates conversations around freedom, autonomy, futility, and suffering. I attended Catholic school growing up in Las Vegas and my influences surrounding womanhood were polarizing. Whether it was in the Church or on a billboard, representations of women were an overwhelmingly object of my environment. By appropriating from Christian iconography and combining it with the crude hyper-sexual aesthetics of Las Vegas, I paint images that reflect and further complicate ideologies related to the body, social conditioning, and self-realization. Under the established patriarchy, navigating the boundaries between objectification and subjectivity can be muddy and confusing. I want to expand on the inner conflict between who we are, who we are conditioned to be, and the potential of shamelessly transcending these binaries. My position on this has been informed by the writings of feminist philosophers including Iris Marion Young, Simone De Beauvoir, bell hooks, and Audrey Lorde. My work references art history and how it has dictated gender, race, sexuality and the intersections between them. It feels empowering to recontextualize iconic representations of women by articulating the performativity of womanhood. I choose to stylize my portraits and figures to play with objectification and the elusiveness of idealized beauty. I combine non-natural color palettes that demand attention with traditional Baroque techniques, such as diagonal compositions and chiaroscuro, to push and pull sensations of familiarity, history and modernity to communicate how the objectification of women has pervaded art history and continues today. I want my art to question how we exist in spaces that aren’t designed for us. I want to consider the dynamics between agency and environment"
Giselle Ibarra, better known as Sincerely Art or Sin for short is a 24 year old San Diego based self taught surrealist artist, business owner and mother. A true entrepreneur - being the first in her family to hold the success of becoming the CEO to her own company. As a Pisces, Sin is moved by the world around her and expresses that through her work.
“Art to me is my form of freedom. I was always one of those people in life who was a little more lost than others. Growing up was difficult, i was raised in an immigrant family of 6 who was always barely surviving. I think i take a lot of drive from that, i feel that i owe it to my roots to be the greatest in what i’m doing - especially as a young mother. My ambition is to pave the way for the extension of me. Through this journey i have had the success of becoming the first CEO in my family. Done various art shows in the United States as well as held my very own art exhibition. I seek to be known on a global state. My paintings are strong reflections of my emotions/situations i go through that have molded the person i am today. Art to me is my voice, my passion and my power. I have found strength and faith through paint, it’s the way my soul feels nourished. The struggles i have faced and face drive me into creating timeless glimpses of peace on a canvas. My goal is to turn all gray shades in my life into vibrant ones. I feel as an artist that we are all on this earth truly looking for one thing: to connect... i want people to feel that when they see my art. My goal is to make whoever looks at my work... feel something.”
♡ Sin
sincerelyart.com
sincerelyart.com