Rising Stars: Meet Karen Fiorito

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Fiorito.

Hi Karen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I studied Art and Photography in high school and applied to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia when I was 18. I studied at UArts for four years, earning my B.A. in 1993. For the next 8 years, I worked at the University while simultaneously working on my art and taking some time off to travel. I tutored professionally and worked at the Sande Webster Gallery during that time. I had a few solo shows and was a member of an all-women cooperative gallery called Muse Gallery. I returned to graduate school in 2001 and received a Regent Scholarship to study at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

The graduate program at A.S.U. is 3 years, and Phoenix was quite the change from the East Coast. My work up until then had always had political undertones, but after 9-11, 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 art studio. 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: I had 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 concentrating on my work. This had always been the plan, so when I injured my back on a 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 artistic practice. Since then, I have done many art projects, including billboard campaigns, and curated many art exhibitions. I still print with the help of a few presses I have collected 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 a member of The Artists’ Gallery in Los Angeles. Both nonprofit cooperatives allow me to show up in L.A. every month. My artworks are in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collections, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, the U.S. Forest Service, and Self-Help Graphics.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
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 keep since I was 13. This has taught me to be fiercely independent and that the world is sexist, classist, racist, and overall bigoted towards minorities. I grew up among racialized minorities and immigrants and saw how hard they struggled to survive, let alone thrive. Like so many of my friends, I had to put myself through 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 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 its 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 repay 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 people around me 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.

Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I am an artist, printmaker, activist, and curator. People probably know me best for my political and animal rights artworks. I specialize in printmaking as my art form, though I also do public/activist art which usually takes the form of billboards. 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 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. What sets my work apart from other artists is that I don’t stick to one particular style. I like experimenting with different mediums and techniques and different subjects and styles. I get bored when I get good at something and 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, mono-printing, 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 sets me apart is that I am not only an artist but also a curator. I love curating exhibitions that have meaning and purpose. I see too many boring art exhibitions, and I aim to shake up the art world when I can. I have curated shows on animal rights, ecofeminism, wildlife, drought, immigration, and democracy.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I never give up, and I have a lot of determination to be successful at what I am passionate about, regardless of how practical that may be. I like to challenge myself to do things outside my comfort zone, and I want to challenge others to think outside the box. Both with my artworks and curated exhibitions, I tackle subject matter that is not always acceptable in the art world. For instance, I curated an exhibition for TAG Gallery called ‘The Absent Referent.’ This powerful art exhibition featured 10 international ecofeminist artists whose work echoed the books “The Sexual Politics of Meat” and “The Pornography of Meat” by American author and activist Carol J. Adams. I created this exhibition as a message to educate and agitate the art world, as much of my political and activist work is meant to do, and also to celebrate the work of these accomplished women artists/activists. These artists draw connections between the ‘isms’ – speciesism, racism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and ageism – with their art. Traditionally the work of vegan artists, especially women, has not been taken seriously in the contemporary art world or academia. As a curator, activist, and artist, I want to change people’s perceptions about this type of work and elevate ecofeminist art to the next level.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.karenfiorito.me
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenfiorito/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenTheFury/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenfiorito/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/buddhacatpress
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnja8RW1PLSk9p9zV__HQzQ

Image Credits
Karen Fiorito