The brilliantly brazen brushstrokes of artist Monica Garza

Upon reading the new issue of Riposte the brilliantly brazen brushstrokes of artist Monica Garza caught our eye. The artist’s ability to honestly paint female body types is refreshing to see. Monica is an artist born in Alamogordo, Mexico, before relocating to central Georgia when she was five. This early move started a pattern in the artist’s life of painting and travelling, when time allowed and when she saw best fit.

At 18, she began a course at Syracuse University before leaving “due to cold conditions”. As a result Monica journeyed to the other side of the spectrum climate-wise, travelling to Kibera, Kenya; before settling in San Francisco where she gained a BFA in Painting and Drawing from California College of Arts. Evidently bitten by the travelling bug, Monica travelled to Peru in her summer break and upon graduating moved to Korea. “I gave up painting and art for three years,” the artist tells It’s Nice That. “I went backpacking through South East Asia after Korea and then back to Peru for a few months until I moved back to Atlanta.”

These travelling experiences have informed the artist’s work, each of her pieces naturally present a wealth of colours that merge together organically. Back on home soil, Monica moved to Brooklyn, New York, “for creative purpose with a company, which ended up failing me. I worked full-time, and did a few paintings here and there.” Thankfully, the artist took the leap to move back to Georgia to pursue her painting career. “And here I am, now living in Atlanta. In between all those times, I’ve travelled to a few other countries, and I worked hard, failed often, and struggled daily.”