We were lucky to catch up with Monica Vega recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Monica, thanks for joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I have experienced being completely misunderstood in the sense of skill and ability. I remember being a vendor in Ohio City’s Open air market i Cleveland Ohio in 2002 – 2004 and people asking me “Did you make those paintings?. Immediately i knew that if I was to become known as an artist, I’d have to dig my heels in and educate myself. I feel the mischaraterized part is still a little difficult because artist create and execute for the viewers. A good artist knows their boundaries with the audience and is aware of what they want to convey. I want to provoke the audience to dive in and enjoy. I’m cautious that i don’t give the wrong motive, because I know that over the course of history artists have had some really hard labels to break away from.

Monica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My Name is Monica Vega and I grew up I the Applachaia belt of Ohio. Though I did my first art show in 2002 in Cleveland Ohio, I still worked part-time to support myself. One of really good friends’ boyfriend convinced me of showing art and applying to gallery shows. I make representational portraiture and that put a lot of thought provoking expressions of the portraits faces.
The thing I’m most proud of is making my husband and family proud of me. I work on big projects such as partnering with woman’s retail stores, film companies filming scenes in my gallery space, and traveling to to meet with artists and investors.
Gallery 18 provides our services to those who are art enthusiasts and collect art. We aim to be the qualitative in our service to our clients.
A couple things that I want fans to know about my brand Gallery 18 is it is named after the time in my teenage life that I had a child and my life changed.
I never take one follower on any social media platform for granted, because I am still growing in this art-evolution.
Thank You

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I applied to an art gallery in New York and when I accepted by the juried panel to exhibit in their annual group show. I didn’t have a ride back and forward the few times to go install and take down after the show. After some thought I took the Greyhound bus.
It was the most uncomfortable ride, ever!
All of my canvases had to be unstretched to roll up and travel inthe luggage section. With no sleep, and cab drivers that weren’t quite aware of the gallery destination it was a journey!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivoting my business wasn’t easy because I started art in a old school house with old elevator chambers and college professors as mentors. My experience of working as an artist then until now is the complete opposite of what I could have imagined. Fast forward 21 years later and in between is digital. NFTS ,Metaverse as well A.I. have changed the way the public views creativity. I think there is definitely more genius today than before. I’ve had to learn to appreciate the digital space and pivot my thought process on what art looks like in 2023. That pivot includes reel and working in the studio and producing digital touches to edify my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: mygallery18.com
• Instagram: monicaofgallery18
• Facebook: gallery18
• Twitter: gallery_18
• Youtube: MonicaVegaGallery18

Image Credits
Artist Monica Vega