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Meet Oriana Gerez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Oriana Gerez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Oriana. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I think I have questioned the meaning and the different facets of beauty since I was a young child, however it was not until 2 or 3 years ago that I decided to get into the visual aspect of it. I went to school for Physics and got my bachelor’s a few years back and then got a little taste of a PhD. Program/ what really academia life is like to while I was doing art on the side to support myself and my studies.

That was a very difficult thing to do as graduate-level classes can be quite challenging with long, endless hour of studying and trying to understand and solve very complicated problems/concepts; I’d literally spend all day at the lab and just sleep there too…when my mind would get overloaded with all of this I’d find myself zoning out and sketching on top of my notes ideas for my next paintings. It was super relaxing…by the time I made it back to my house, I’d start painting whatever I had sketched and then it would actually sell really quick so I was like oh, people like my art enough to buy it, that’s pretty cool! I then got a tiny corner in my parent’s studio who are in the furniture business so that I don’t cover everything in the house with paint.

As I started painting more and more, I started learning more and making bigger pieces which sort of ended up in my getting a whole studio for me to work on. Nowadays, I have traded sleeping in the lab for sleeping in my studio (except for the summer months when it is too hot as I do not have any AC). Having my own personal space to creatively express myself freely and unbounded is something that I absolutely love and I am proud of, when I am in my studio it is soo much like being in a real-time machine as I get so lost and immersed in my pieces that I entirely lose track of time. I love the passion that consumes me to create these pieces while also being fortunate enough to make a living out of it… art has never failed me.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Oh my God, definitely not. When I used to think of artists and what kind of life they led the first thing that came to my mind was glamorous gallery parties, meeting cool people, living a chill, relaxed life, painting whenever inspired and so on. Let me tell you nothing is further away from the truth (except for the meeting cool people part!). If you want to actually make a living out of this be prepared to work really, really hard. If you are someone like me with zero art education (besides high school classes on art history lol) and zero connections then you really have to put in the work and start from the ground up. I have spent so many hours working on my skills, developing a vision of what works and what does not, finding an audience that values my work… It can be tiring for sure, but trust me it is very rewarding. One of my favorite parts has been connecting to all sorts of people through my work and I feel very fortunate about that.

Please tell us more about your art.
I am known as O.G.! haha, those are my actual legal initials but a lot of people love the Original Gangster too lol. I do a lot of things, “wear a lot of hats, or dresses, however you want to see it”, but one of the most meaningful and necessary (to me at least) things I see myself doing is creating as much as I can. I create as a form of healing, as a form of freedom, as a form of exploration (and introspection) and as a form of connection.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I am looking forward to creating more and more pieces, I know it sounds super corny/cliche but I truly love what I do and waking up every day to do that is such a blessing. I have all these ideas in my head, all these color combinations I see each time I close my eyes and sometimes from my dreams that I cannot wait to put it all on the canvas! Currently, I have my work up in a couple of galleries in the SoFlo area and a few shows planned for next year but I am also excited for even more opportunities to unfold as I go! Keep them coming! lol

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
The Photographer for my portrait was: Pierre Richard Louis IG: @prlphotos

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