We’re looking forward to introducing you to Marina Anta. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Marina, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
It’s hard for me to separate the two. I am walking a path, but I believe the path itself changes when you allow yourself to wander. There’s something sacred in giving space to play, to curiosity, to detours.
Even our biggest dreams can become our limits if we hold them too tightly. I love having direction, but I also trust the beauty of wandering
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a painter. In a world where everyone calls themselves an artist, I like to keep it simple. I paint every day – it’s my way of observing and translating what can’t be said out loud.
Before I start a painting, I spend a lot of time just thinking. Sometimes I don’t even notice how much of that process happens before the first brushstroke. I’m interested in feelings that are hard to name, the ones that feel like nostalgia, like a dream you can’t fully remember, or like something that already happened in another time. These moments stay with me, and painting becomes a way to understand them.
Teaching is another part of my life that I love deeply. For the past few years I’ve been helping other artists to trust themselves more, to take risks, to find their rhythm. It gives me a sense of connection and keeps me curious.
Recently I’ve been exploring how art and science can meet. It’s still early, a bit unpredictable, but I love that edge between logic and intuition, the place where something entirely new might appear.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I don’t think I ever stopped being that child. I still dream the same way and try to live in the moment, even when life tells me to plan everything. Sometimes I think maybe it’s time to grow up, but then I realize that part of me doesn’t really want to.
I don’t feel like that child lives somewhere inside me, I think I just never became anything else.
When I was little, I thought adults had everything figured out. Now I know they just move through the same mystery, trying to make sense of it.
And maybe that’s what growing up really is learning how to keep that wonder alive without needing to explain it.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
Fear has probably been my biggest companion and my biggest obstacle. It’s never on the surface, it kinda lives deeper, in places I don’t always want to look at. Fear of being seen, fear of being responsible for something bigger than myself, fear of losing control.
People often think I’m fearless because I move countries, live as a full-time painter, and keep creating even when everything feels uncertain. But the truth is, I face fear every single day. It’s what stands between me and my next step, and at the same time, it’s what shows me where that next step is.
I don’t think fear ever really goes away. I just learned to live with it, to work with it, and sometimes even to thank it for keeping me awake
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest lies in the art world is that success means being represented by a gallery.
Many artists start chasing that idea and, somewhere along the way, lose touch with their authenticity, which is actually the only thing that matters. I see it all the time with my students, and I went through it myself. You want your art to be loved, to sell, to “work,” but it’s almost impossible to reach that point if it doesn’t come from something real.
Art schools don’t really teach you how to stay true to yourself, and the gallery system often rewards branding more than sincerity. Even community events that are meant to “support artists” often just keep the economy of entertainment running, people come for fun, for food, for music, but the artists barely cover their costs.
Maybe it sounds biased, but I honestly believe that if art isn’t valued, we all lose something essential. Because without art who are we, really?
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What light inside you have you been dimming?
Maybe the light I dim sometimes is the part of me that doesn’t fit anywhere.
I live in my own world without TV, news, or all the things most people follow. Sometimes I wish I could care about them, just to feel a bit more normal. I even try, I look at trends, at what everyone’s talking about, but it always feels a little foreign to me.
There are moments when I really want to belong, to blend in, to stop being “that girl who lives in her bubble.”
But then I remember – I’m an artist.
And there are no rules 🙂
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