Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Turner.
Hi Bianca, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started painting over 20 years ago using this hobby as a relaxation therapy to release the stress created by my full-time job which was in sales management. When I was arriving home after work, every day being verbally abused by people because I was not born in the United States, because I have an accent because I am not white, because I come from a third world country from Europe and because I didn’t go to an American high school, I had to forget somehow all this bullying…and painting was helping me. In time, I started to have a large inventory of painted canvases so I decided to create my own website and once my work was posted online the art galleries, the curators and the collectors started to demand more and more of my work. Four years ago, the bad treatment I endured daily at work, for so many tumultuous years, from my superiors, some of my co-workers and some of my clients, caught up with me and due to the severe PTSD I was suffering from, because of them, I had to take a leave of absence from the corporate American culture. That was the time when my artistic career started to take off and since then, I finally found my true path in my life, doing what I love – making art – and working on healing myself every day.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, It hasn’t been a smooth road and I think that’s what makes success more enjoyable. I worked very hard at being where I am now, dedicating 16 hours/day to my artistic career. One of the main struggles that I encountered, and lately I’ve discovered that other artists had to deal with the same issue, was to avoid all types of scammers that exist in the art world, from vanity galleries who ask for an exuberant amount of money from the artists to show their work, the social media sharks who are luring the artists into all type of advertisements schemes and the cheap hackers who are just hitting everyone who tries to make an honest living, just to make a buck or two. It is time-consuming for all artists to learn how to avoid the scammers, to choose who is the real art collector and curator, what is in their interest to do online and what not. Fortunately for me, due to my business acumen and my training in cybersecurity it is easy to navigate through the ill-intended ones in the virtual world and I can allocate most of my time painting and connecting with real curators and collectors. However, at the beginning, my weakest point, since I did not have enough experience working with galleries, was being able to select which gallery was a reputable one and which one was just another vanity gallery. It took me about a year to learn how to avoid the galleries from New York, UK, Italy and Austria who have a lot of vanity galleries. I will always be available to share my experiences that I had with those galleries with the emerging artists who are interested so they won’t be preyed upon.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I create paintings with all types of media on all types of surfaces. However, I mostly like to use acrylic, gouache and ink on canvas. Lately, I started to paint on paper and I am in love with this new way of creating. Everyone knows me for my bold, strong, vibrant colors. I am proud that my work has energy and most importantly that it has a message. I do not create just for the love of blending colors on canvas or paper. I think that it is every person’s duty, on this planet, to leave a legacy and to make this place better for future generations. I am also a firm believer that an artist has the duty to bring awareness to the important issues that are concerning his/her surroundings. Sometimes people say that my work is strong, sometimes they say that it is not positive, or that it is clever or that it has a hidden message and it gives them different emotions. I consider that my job, as an artist, is done well if I can make my public think. My art does not have to be positive, or cute, or pretty, or beautiful. I am proud that my art gets remembered by the way it makes people feel.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I have never been motivated by money.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.biancaturner.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biancaturnerart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inall4all
