Vala The Artist

Vala the Artist is an up and coming self-trained Iranian artist from Colorado. Vala’s art is mostly influenced by her lifelong struggle with Major Depressive Disorder and the high and low emotional extremes that come tied to it. Because of this, she also took a 10 year hiatus from making art and began to create consistently again in 2022. She aims to express the deep and profound emotions she experiences through typically colorful, psychedelic, yet gloomy pathological portraits and other subject matter. 

Her portraits come from a desire to be felt. For others to feel or experience something emotional themselves as she explores the deeper and moody aspects of her perspective. The desire to have someone see the world from her view and possibly understand a bit of her screwiness. Her art she has been told is wildly odd, bizarre, and for some a feeling that something is out of kilter. Her favorite question about her art so far has been “What in the world possessed you to make… that?”

She has over the years been expanding more into mixed media pieces and finds more and more inspiration in the issues ongoing in this world. 

Mr. Leo is the 12 year old Bombay studio manager for Vala.

He is named after Leonardo Da Vinci (Leonardo Da Meowci), however he has no thumbs so he would not make the best artist and feels his skills are useful in a different field. 

 He is quite particular about the state of the studio and a very diligent worker. If there is something out of place he aptly knocks it to the floor so Vala will move it to it's proper place.  He often sits in his favorite box with mini heating pad in the corner of the studio monitoring Vala and making sure deadlines are met in a timely manner. He is there to assist during late night hours of working, he provides company and motivation and reminds Vala to take small breaks, mostly because he wants a chicken snack (freezer dried chicken is his favorite snack). 

Sometimes he is more paws on and sits in Vala's lap as she paints or works on designs while providing constructive feedback. 

Mr.Leo is an invaluable asset to the team, we could not ask for  a more dedicated studio manager. 

Mr. Gimli is the most recent addition to our studio staff and the youngest member. Gimli is a now 2 year old orange classic tabby gremlin. He currently spends most of his time eating, sleeping, and screaming for food and treats. However, when he is not occupied with his usual tasks, he can be found in the studio learning as much as he can from his mentor Mr. Leonardo; our current studio manager. 

Mr. Leonardo adores Gimli and believes he has what it takes to be a successful studio manager. 

While Gimli is new to the art world and his career, he tries his best everyday, even though he is so small!

 He is learning and studying the arts consistently and it reflects in his work.

Gimli finds himself fond of getting into paint, he thinks perhaps he will become an artist in the future; but for now he must learn the basics.

He would like to share he enjoys the works of artists such as Felix Gonzales-Torres and his meaningful art pieces surrounding queer figures and portraiture. He believes the erasure of the queer content by the smithsonian is disrespectful and cowardly and should be called out. 

You can read more about this here

https://www.out.com/gay-news/felix-gonzalez-torres-smithsonian-untitled#rebelltitem2