Today we’d like to introduce you to Katia Pineda.
Hi Katia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story starts at the root of who I am! From my tiniest moments as a child, I was always drawn to anything that included art. Art has always been my passion and it’s helped me grow and heal in so many ways since then. I don’t have any technical training, although I am looking to start a studio art degree in the fall. What I’ve learned throughout my time as an artist is the most genuine and beautiful pieces come from very vulnerable places, good and bad. I believe I started to find my style when I was about 12 or 13. My parents had separated and it affected my art deeply. I remember being so frustrated with the world at the point in time that I actually completely tore a canvas that I had been working on to shreds. I had almost instant regret, I think of it as a metaphor for my heart at that time, and honestly for every day since. I sewed my canvas back together, and it’s something that I’ve included in a lot of my work since. I want you to feel my art, quite literally and metaphorically. I want people to look at my work and wonder and get excited, and finally feel it!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There were tons of struggles along the way and still are to this day. This is by no means a cheap hobby or career. Stuff costs a lot when you add it up, and past the finical aspect, it can be easy to feel blocked, or unmotivated. Especially in this new age of content creation. I’m always fighting for my authenticity, and it’s hard to do that when algorithms require you to post at least once to multiple times a day. It takes its toll mentally. But my art is my form of truest self-expression. I see bits of my story in every new work. I see the struggle, the heartbreak, the adversity, but I also see my love, joy, and who I have grown to be, and who I am becoming. It’s vulnerable and proud!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a mixed media artist but my focus is on painting, I dabble in other things like digital art and printmaking because I like the challenge of learning a new skill. It’s also exciting to see how I might be able to incorporate some of these aspects in later projects. I am most proud of my ability to adapt. I have canvasses that I work on for months at a time or even years. And sometimes I look at it one day and decide that whatever is there has got to go! I will literally paint over all that work and it’s kind of terrifying, but what comes next is usually the actual thing that was supposed to be there all along. I think what sets me apart is my lack of plan. Sometimes I do plan, but more often than not I do just go with the flow when I have an idea I run with it! A moment that really changed the way I viewed my art, was during the filming of Angel’s episode of queer eye. It’s not featured in the episode but when everyone was in our bedroom Jonathan Van Ness was going through our moving boxes. My art wasn’t up yet since we knew things were going to be moved around, but he picked up a painting of mine, the first rendition of my squiggles series and couldn’t believe I made it. He put me in contact with a now dear friend of mine, the art director at West Chelsea Contemporary and it made me feel so validated. I felt in that moment that I could actually take on the world of art as not just a hobby but a career. So thank you JVN! You made my heart sing that day!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I actually grew up here in Austin so I have a few hot takes but I’ll let them rest because you’ve probably heard them before. My biggest hurt is how unaffordable my home is becoming, growing up I used to be so excited to see the new art of graffiti up around time, or the same quirks that make home. I’ve seen those things disappearing in a lot of ways. However, there are places like West Chelsea Contemporary or organizations like Raasin in the Sun that make me excited for what is to come. I’m always inspired by what they are doing!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://katiamarissa.squarespace.com/
- Instagram: katiamarissaart
- Twitter: _Katia_marissa
