We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Garriga recently and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
Last year, I tried doing art full time. I was part of several art shows back to back. I had a long list of commission orders. I had my own solo exhibition. I had the flexibility in my schedule to take time off when I needed. All in all, I was doing relatively well financially and I felt like there was no stopping me.Then, I experienced burn out and the work that I was proud of wasn’t selling. I had to come to terms with the fact that I was stretching myself too thin and couldn’t rely on my art as my income anymore. I had to get a daytime job, as most creatives do, and it was really hard for me to accept. My thoughts began to consume me and my insecurities were heightened. Am I not cut out to make it as an artist? Am I a failure? I took a hiatus and focused on my career. Life happened and I fell into a deep depression. 8 months later and I’m slowly but surely getting back into painting again. I couldn’t believe how long it took me to get back into something that I couldn’t imagine my life without. Instead of feeling guilt and shame though, I had this perspective shift with creative blocks. Being in a flow state can be truly magical. You just have this continuous outpour of ideas and momentum. But then you experience a creative block and suddenly your life has come to a crashing halt. It can be so frustrating and we often meet it with a lot of resistance. We demonize this sort of natural process that’s happening to us and praise/crave the opposite. But we have to remember the yin and yang of life. You have to honor the negativity because it’s a part of the process. It’s holding you back in order to get that breakthrough to what you’re trying to achieve. This moment of stagnancy is there to serve you. We can be such powerful creatives when we acknowledge the resistance and not get scared or angry. This is a time to step back and reset. You are not a machine, you are human. So learn from it, take from it, and don’t let it hold you back to the greatness that’s coming. The path is never linear, so you cannot plan a career to unfold in a sensible direction. Be open to life and all of its unexpected turns.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a 26 year old abstract artist that was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I create an altered reality though acrylic pours on canvas. My work primarily explores the intricacy of energy and how it can operate and shift. I combine spontaneity and control in order to manipulate my canvas and produce fluid art that has a powerful exchange between color, form, and gestures. My art deals with this intimate connection between the hand and mind in motion, that is simultaneously both subtle and energetic.
From a young age, my parents instilled in me a love for art. I was lucky enough to be born in a family of creatives so I grew up surrounded by the art of my loved ones as well. This upbringing greatly influenced my artistic vision and approach to storytelling. I always knew I would be an artist but I never had a specific medium that I was dead set on. I went to CSUN and majored in visual arts and minored in psychology in hopes to become an art therapist. It was there that I had the pleasure of experimenting with several different art mediums including ceramics, water color, photography, charcoal, etc. but it wasn’t until 2019 that I fell in love with abstract art. I stumbled upon fluid art and my background in psychology and fascination with the mind began to flow into my artwork. I wanted to communicate the world around me by working intuitively and allowing room for play. I started to produce an aesthetic world that elicits a multitude of emotional and intellectual responses that invited my viewers to resolve. People began responding well to my art and I began my journey.
Fast forward to now, I’m making resin artworks primarily on canvas but have been experimenting with all sorts of techniques/materials. I look forward to seeing my style mature and evolve with time and hope my customers continue to support me on this path.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding part of being an artist is seeing how your audience reacts to your work. It becomes this intimate conversation between the viewer and the painting. I am always so intrigued by people’s interpretation of what I make. Having a concept in your head and then transforming it into something physical is a beautiful experience on its own, but when it’s out in the world for everyone to see, the responses are limitless. The fact that everyone has their own set of opinions and views and upbringings means that not one person will look at something I make the same. Whether that be positive or negative, if I evoke something through my art, then to me I’ve done my job. Sometimes it even encourages me to look at my work from a perspective I never imagined. My work surprises me and I’m so happy to be able to add a little curiosity in people’s lives.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think what non-creatives may struggle to understand about the journey of a creative is how it tends to not be about financial success. Most of us have two or three different incomes and we may take several different routes until we reach a point where we are well off. An artist’s cash flow can typically be erratic and not consistent. Good work will sometimes not sell, the market could be doing poorly, etc.. There are several factors out of our control and we have to constantly remind ourselves that our credibility as an artist is not validated by money. But we struggle so much to sustain a creative life because it’s more rewarding. It fulfills us in a way that a standard 9-5 corporate job cannot. The artist life is raw and passionate and surprising and vulnerable but worth it. It allows us to live our lives more authentically and full of wonder.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: michellegarriga.art