Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Galindo.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Crystal Galindo, and I am a first generation Xicana from California’s Central Valley. I come from a background of farm workers who migrated to California from Mexico. I grew up knowing I wanted to be an accomplished artist, though I was very shy to share all the work I had put into my craft. I watched my parents put their own creative needs on the backburner to support our family and raise four children, and I stayed close to home after high-school as a security blanket and guard rails to my own journey. Community College was the first breakthrough for me. I had teachers who helped me to expand my skills and build community around art. Art helped me to step out of my comfort zone and move on to a university on my own. When I started posting my artwork on social media while still in undergrad, I caught the attention of galleries, curators, and supporters who would invite me to show my work all over the United States. The shy artist who couldn’t share her sketchbook for fear of judgment was actually displaying her work for crowds of people, and simultaneously navigating the BFA program at her university. It gave me so much confidence and joy to feel seen in my art work and the concepts I had to bury while I honed my skills. Putting my paintings up on walls among other artists I admired and meeting other accomplished artists along the way was essential in my path toward becoming a professional artist myself.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Struggles and challenges came my way for sure. Sometimes I got in my own way, too scared to take chances or ask the right questions, I feel like I have missed out on opportunities that I could have grown from. Therapeutically, with self reflection, I have started to analyze the ways I can and should speak up for myself and take up space. I struggled with shyness at first in community college, and lingered around for years before I took a chance on oil painting classes and figure drawing classes, because I was scared I wouldn’t be good enough. Or that materials would be too expensive, and maybe the luxuries of art supplies were too much to ask for. When I moved on to undergrad, I was culture shocked, and felt misunderstood by my peers. I found myself overly explaining my work because cultural details became the focus of the periodic critiques, instead of seamlessly flowing with the message to viewers who hadn’t been around Chicano culture before. In ways, I took on the task of educating my fellow classmates and professors on my background along with trying to have get the most of what my teachers were assigning for the program. In that sense, it was hard to feel seen in my concepts and ideas as anything other than the “other.”
After graduation, I tried my best to find my footing in my own home. I no longer had the ventilated studio space of the university, or the camaraderie of my peers and I again got in my own way. I was still practicing art and creating, but circumstances seemed to make it harder to complete larger pieces and the opportunities came few and far between after a while.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I primarily focus on figurative artwork. Portrait paintings and drawings are a passion of mine, while celebrating and speaking on my culture, inner struggles, and the state of the world at the moment. I became known for my self portraits, which range from small 4x6inch paintings to 4x5ft panels. I think one of the most recognizable details about my work is the bright color palette I use, and the way I incorporate cultural elements of my background, such as Mexican foods, desserts, lowriders, clowns, and animals. I continue to paint portraits of myself and other women, and I have also branched out into making painted jewelry that is a mesh of my art and adornments.
I think what has set me apart from others in the past is my surrealistic, dream-like pieces that place the subject and viewer in a space that isn’t quite grounded in a physical plane. My backgrounds started as an excavation of my inner dialogue and history, and morphed into a sugary but bold statement on womanhood, body acceptance, sadness/mental health and the need to be seen.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
There are times I wish I was more of a risk taker. I grew up not wanting to make waves because I was bullied, so if I could shrink myself down and not draw attention to myself, I could keep others from critiquing me. Even at my most anxious times, I always had this urge to speak up, and be seen in other ways. I became a class clown, hiding my depression behind jokes and laughter. The journey as an artist is so intertwined in learning about myself in a holistic sense. The risks I have taken in life are gradual and far between, and I definitely know I could take more. Be more bold, ask for more, be more seen. Especially as an artist with so much to say.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crystalgalindo.com/
- Instagram: @crystalgalindoart
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/crystalgalindoart
- Youtube: @crystalgalindoart
