Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Fiorito.
Hi Karen, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When I was in high school, I took up Art and Photography and applied to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia when I was 18. I studied there for four years, earning my B.A. in 1993. After that, I worked at the University while working on my art and taking some time off to travel. I took 8 years off from being a student. In that time, I tutored and worked at the Sande Webster Gallery. I had a few solo shows and was a member of an all-women cooperative gallery called Muse Gallery. I finally went back to graduate school in 2001. I received a Regent Scholarship from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The graduate program at A.S.U. is 3 years, and it was quite the change from my East Coast roots. My work up until then had always had political undertones, but after 9-11 happened, during my first few weeks of school, I began to move in a heavily political direction with my work. I graduated with my M.F.A. in Printmaking in 2004. Shortly after graduating, I had a solo show in Phoenix before moving to Los Angeles to start my own business. As much as I loved being a student, I was tired of academia and wanted to experience the “real world.” I moved to Los Angeles because a) I met some artists there who took me under their wings and b) my work was so political the only two cities I could see myself existing were Los Angeles or New York. Being from the East Coast, I was tired of the cold and thought I would try Los Angeles. I built up my business from nothing, with literally nothing in my pockets when I moved to L.A. The day I moved to L.A., I went to an opening at the Design Center in Pasadena and was shocked to see one of my political posters in the show. I felt like I had made the right choice. I ran my business, Buddha Cat Press, in Downtown Los Angeles for 10 years before deciding to concentrate on my own work. This had always been the plan, but when I injured my back on a very physically demanding print job, I decided to retire from contract printing. I met my husband around this time, and he encouraged me to concentrate on my own projects. Since then, I have done many art projects, including a 6-year billboard campaign, and curated many exhibitions. I still print with the help of a few presses I have gotten over the years, and even though I moved to San Diego County, I still am very involved with the art scene in Los Angeles. I am the President of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society and on the Board of Directors at TAG Gallery in Los Angeles. I often show in L.A., and my work is in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, the U.S. Forest Service and Self-Help Graphics.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road. I was raised by a single mom who had 3 kids and no college education. We were not privileged financially, and I have had to earn my own keep since I was 13 years old. This has taught me to be fiercely independent but also that the world is not only sexist but classist, racist, and overall bigoted towards minorities. I grew up among racialized minorities and immigrants and saw how hard they had to struggle to survive, let alone thrive. I, like so many of my friends, had to put myself through both graduate and undergraduate school. Even with 3 part-time jobs the entire time in college and a Regent Scholarship, I still had to take out many student loans. When I graduated with my M.F.A. and moved to Los Angeles, I didn’t have a dime to my name. I actually had to get a grant to survive my first month. It took a while for my business to take off, and for years I scraped by. I had to put my student loans on hold, which was unfortunate because they still keep accruing interest, even if you can’t pay them. Long story short, I have three times the debt I started with, thanks to the Department of Education and their predatory lending practices. It’s hard not to be bitter when I know so many people who never had to take out loans or had their parents pay them back for them. Life is not fair, at least for poor people. The whole experience has made me more empathetic towards others. I always knew I had it hard, but I always acknowledged that there were people around me who had it worse. I am by no means rich and probably will never be, but I am at least at the point in my life where I am not still struggling to survive. For that I am grateful.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an artist, printmaker, activist, and curator. I specialize in printmaking as my art form, though I also do public/activist art which usually takes the form of billboards. People probably know me best for my political and animal rights artworks. I had a 6 year-long billboard campaign called “Got Drought?” which toured California and went to South Africa. That project was about educating the public on the relationship between animal agriculture and drought. I am also known for my “Trumpocalypse” billboard in Phoenix, AZ which gained international media attention in 2017. I currently have a billboard up about abortion rights and continue to put up billboards regarding important policies or issues. I also do a lot of animal-related art. I have a series called “Sacred Beings” in which I imagine animals as different gods, buddhas, and other deities. I think what sets my work apart from other artists is that I don’t stick to one particular style. I like experimenting not only with different mediums and techniques but different subjects and styles. I get bored when I get good at something and find I have to move on and keep exploring. I am very good at screen printing, for example. I became so good at the medium that people thought my hand-pulled prints were digital. So, I got bored. Now I am experimenting more with lithography, monoprinting, and intaglio. The reason I love printmaking is that there is so much to explore and so many different ways to combine techniques and processes. What else sets me apart is that I am not only an artist, but I am also a curator. I love curating exhibitions that have meaning and purpose. I see too many boring art exhibitions, and my mission is to shake up the art world when I can. I have curated shows on animal rights, ecofeminism, wildlife, drought, immigration, and democracy.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I am very blessed to have had a lot of supporters over the years. Some are friends, former professors, fellow artists, and curators. Some are people I barely know and have only met online or at an artist talk. One of my good friends who has always supported me over the years and with whom I have collaborated is Alex Arinsberg. He was critical in making “Got Drought?” a success and deserves much of the credit. He is also very supportive of my art. Sadly I lost two of my mentors and one of my biggest supporters this year. They were LeRoy Johnson, Kay Brown, and Ricardo Reyes respectively. I must also thank Beatrice Moore who gave me my first billboard and with whom I have collaborated on many billboards (and hopefully more to come!) She started the Grand Avenue Billboard Project in Phoenix, Arizona, and is also a community leader and advocate for artists. She is an inspiration to me. Last year, I was lucky enough to curate an exhibition at TAG Gallery in Los Angeles, and I had the pleasure of meeting some amazing ecofeminist artists from all over the world. These connections are so meaningful because vegan ecofeminist artists are not always understood, even in the art world. I also belong to a cooperative gallery and am learning so much from the other artists there. Serving as President of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society has given me a strong sense of community and collaboration, which have always been important to me. I try to foster as much of that sense of community and collaboration into everything I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.karenfiorito.me/
- Instagram: karenfiorito
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenTheFury/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenfiorito/
- Twitter: @buddhacatpress
- Youtube: @KarenFiorito
Image Credits
Karen Fiorito
