Today we’d like to introduce you to Riley Vaughn.
Hi Riley, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My art journey started as a kid. Painting and drawing to help get my thoughts out of my head and on to paper. Most kids are creative, use art to express themselves, tell stories and show others how they are feeling. As we get older, I think most people lose this sense of wonder. They start judging themselves or comparing themselves to others and eventually stop creating. Which is exactly what happened to me.
I went to Colombia College in Chicago to study filmmaking. It seemed like a creative career that had “job potential.” I fell in love with making films because of my love for skateboarding. I thought it would be a way for me to be around skateboarders, have fun, get into trouble and make a living. Being in a narrative-based film program however was detrimental to my creative process. I didn’t want to tell stories in a linear, narrative way, if at all. I found myself making more and more abstract, Avantgarde style short films which eventually pushed me in the direction of fine art. I wanted to use my art as a journal. To tell my stories the way I saw them, heard them, felt them. Filmmaking is such a collaborative art form and I felt like my side of the story was being lost, overlooked or overshadowed by the many other ideas in the room. I never lost my sense of creativity but stopped making art regularly for almost a decade.
Over the past ten years, I would casually make a piece of art to hang in my own house or as gifts for friends when they got married or moved into a new apartment. It wasn’t until last fall (2020) that a good friend of mine asked me to paint her something. I bought a few new art supplies and lost myself in the creation of this new work. Thinking back to being a kid, creating, losing myself in the story I wanted to tell from an image I’d created. I felt better than I had in years, I knew I was creating something special for someone I loved and it made me feel really good. I hadn’t put that many hours into a new work in years and I was so excited to share it with her.
I gave her the painting. Her eyes lit up, her smile was the biggest I’d ever seen it. In that moment, I knew that I needed to start working again. I needed to lose myself in the process of telling my stories the way I see them, hear them, feel them. Over the past year, I have stopped at nothing to pursue making art a full-time job. Thank you Birta for believing in me. You have changed my life forever.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been smooth. Most of my struggles have been self-inflicted. Constantly not thinking I’m good enough, comparing myself to others, feeling like what I make doesn’t matter to anyone, especially me. Not being able to lose myself in the process that is making art. I have put most of my energy into other people, friends, partners, family. With putting so much emphasis on other’s needs, I lost myself completely.
It wasn’t until recently that I started believing in myself. Finding joy in the process of creating. Spending hours alone, using my art as a form of therapy for myself to express how I was feeling, My pieces over the past year have been full of color, bright, happy, joyous looking. But if you spend some time with my work, look into the characters I have created, you can feel the struggle they are trying desperately to overcome. Biggest obstacle for me to overcome was the idea that everything I make has to be incredible. When I started to finally understand that the creating of the art, the process in which it gets made is where the true artistry is for me is when I was able to let a lot of the self-doubt go. And now that I am starting to believe in myself, I feel like anything is possible.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a mixed media artist. Mostly creating paintings on canvas with acrylic, aerosol, pastels, oil sticks charcoal, etc.
I am known for my street-like, kid-like, unschooled style. The use of bright bold colors and how they are used to portray a vignette; a moment in time. I pull a lot of inspiration from George Condo, Picasso, Cristina Banban, and Anthony Lister.
I’m most proud of the way I convey story through my works. The way I treat canvas like a journal entry for myself and for my clients. I can take a story told to me or an event in my life and create a poetic, abstract image that portrays the feelings felt in that moment. Whatever those feelings might be. I recently created a piece titled “Day at the Beach” where a client told me a story about swimming with dolphins and how magical it was. I took that story and made a large-scale painting of what a magical day at the beach would look like. Dolphins drinking beer, pirates, sandcastles. A whimsical image of a day based on a story my clients would never forget.
What sets me apart from others is the way I view art. Art is everywhere, anything created, styled or done with intent. Everything should be a conversation, a discussion.
What does success mean to you?
Success is having the time everyday to do what you want!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.RileyVaughn.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/riley_vaughn
Image Credits:
Mason Thorne
