Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Manaut.
Ana, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I come from a family of artist from which I was inspired by at a very young age. From the age of three, I could spend hours on end at museums and cry when I left. I am Mexican, but with Spanish descent that has been a major part of my artistic development. My great-grandfather, along with his brother, Jose Manaut, were Spanish painters from Valencia that worked very closely with great painters such as Sorolla. All my life, I have been surrounded by their paintings and taught the importance of art. Although I never got to meet them, their painting influenced my style and passion. My parents, on the other hand, are not artistic at all, but they have always supported my passion and let me create. I have had the pleasure of being able to constantly travel all my life, from South America to Europe, Asia and North America. Visiting museums and exploring local art wherever I went and never failing to be inspired to continue and pursue my artistic passions. From the age of eight, I knew that I wanted to be in the art field and never gave up until I got into the art school of my choice, Parsons The New School for Design In New York City. There, I have explored many different mediums of art and have gotten to express myself through rigorous projects. In my freshman year, which I recently finished, I chose my major, Fashion Design which allows me to keep exploring different styles of art. I have gotten the pleasure to intern at New York Fashion Week and even paint some shoes for the designer Collina Strada which were featured in voguerunway.com. Art has and always will be a part of my life and I strive to improve and work hard to follow my passion.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The majority of my life my main focus has been painting. My uncle is a painter so growing up I spent a lot of time with him in his studio and started to work on painting on my own. Painting to me is my escape, it allows me to create all the exciting ideas which are floating in my head. Later, I began to focus more on drawings in graphite and prismacolors but eventually returned to painting. From there, I began exploring fashion and how to formulate 2-D patterns from my sketches and make them come to life and more recently as a result of my classwork at Parsons I began to incorporate photography as a new medium in my art. My art has been influenced by my multiple cultures: Mexican, Spanish and American. I try to incorporate bits and pieces of each to show my personality and my story. With my art, I keep it lighthearted, I use bright colors and enjoy provoking thought. As an artist, I strive for making the viewer feel some way towards my art, good or bad. I want people to have an opinion, for something in it to not sit right or for it to make them fall in love with the piece. I believe that the art we admire today, is backed by constant controversy of it deserves to be famous or not, and that is why it is. I make art because I love it, whether its a dress which I hand painted on or a giant canvas, I put my soul into each part because that is what makes art beautiful.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
My advice is to not care if people like it. It does not matter if you are confident in what you make, people will begin to see how your work is special. No’s are never easy to hear, but they push you to try harder to prove yourself and to better your craft. I am far from perfect and just getting started, but the trick is to always keep at it, to try to get better with each piece, to not be afraid to try new things and not to take “I don’t like it” as a critique because it is simply an opinion.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My work is mainly posted on my art Instagram account @anaxmanaut and you can support my following my account.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 8326280090
- Email: anaxrojas.avila@gmail.com
- Instagram: anaxmanaut
Image Credit:
Tatiana Ezequiel
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