WINNER OF ART BATTLE L.A. | MAY '22
ART BATTLE
WINNER OF ART BATTLE LA
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"After more than 2,000 events in 20 countries since 2001, Art Battle is the global tournament of live art. In each event, 12 artists compete in three rounds of live painting. The winners are decided by audience vote, and Champions will advance to City, Regional, National, and World Championships"
BIOGRAPHY
ABOUT FLO
Born and raised in Chile, Flo Mena has been attracted to art since she was a small child.
At the age of 14 the young artist underwent ART THERAPY as a form of coping, where she found her true language of communication with the world. It was then that she began to discover a deep yearning to create.
Art became her source of healing and self-realization. Influenced by movies, nature, and traveling, she has used drawing and painting as a method of self-discovery and personal expression.
BACKGROUND
STUDIES
Although Flo studied architecture, she continued to feel moved to search for her own artistic calling.
Pursing art was discouraged by her family and culture, yet she continued her exploration of other artistic mediums through her travels. Unsatisfied after graduation, she began to realize that her career and country would never fulfill her dreams, so she took the leap to move to LA in search of a new freedom and methods of expression. After a couple of years of studying 2D & 3D digital art and illustration, she decided to explore a more formal, yet non-traditional foundation.
She enrolled in the Milan Art Institute where she found her voice and the techniques, she had for so long searched for. With so much suppressed by fear, she realized that she’d never felt the freedom to be who she really was. Her art has now conquered these frustrations and fears and inspired her to create for the inspiration of others to do the same. She spends her time developing her expressive style through mixed media achieving empowerment, independence, and finding new endeavors in the art world.
FIRST COLLECION
BREAKTHROUGH
Currently Flo has painted a series of female portraits depicting her feelings about female representation around circulating topics.
The portraits reflect different parts of her that break the mold of female expectations. Some of the females painted can be found starring back at the observer giving the message that they are serious about breaking away from tradition, while others look away. The color gives expression to the vastness of female emotion and expression.
Flo wants her viewers to feel the emotional stages of the women painted because socially women are portrayed as having to be “pretty” according to certain standards, and in a sense perfect. However, women are more than this exterior of pretty and contained, but rather should express their chaos and power.