6 Latinx artists bringing beauty and color to southern California

Cynthia Huerta is a Mexican-American Multidisciplinary Community Artist, Curator, and Advocate that has been servicing Southern California’s communities for over 18 years. A woman of many talents, her mediums include painting, watercolor, murals, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, mosaic, and pyrography. In 2018 she had the honor of presenting a Mixed-Media arts piece to Dolores Huerta on behalf of Cal State San Bernardino’s associated students. She has partnered with UCR Undocumented Student Programs, hosted an art lesson for the Latina women of Google, created murals in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and much much more. When the COVID-19 pandemic had many scared and confused in 2020, she continued to support her community by doing free Art Lesson Lives on her art Instagram @lovewithjoyart. She impacted the lives of many, reaching thousands across the country and even parts of Mexico and Europe. Her work has been displayed at the Riverside Art Museum and she was featured in the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture.

Born in El Salvador, Johanna Toruño is a Los Angeles-based visual artist. She created the Unapologetic Street Series, which is a series of poster art reflecting social and political messages to support communities that are discriminated against. Toruño pastes the colorful posters around Los Angeles, utilizing public spaces. The Instagram account dedicated to the series has over 165k followers, with the caption, “This is queer migrant artistry.” In 2020 the artist hosted a Ted Talk on Queer visibility & Public art.

If you drink Liquid Death you may have already seen Richie Valesquez’s art on the box. The Mexican-American artist based in Riverside created the art persona Deladeso and is considered the originator of grime art. Best known for creating psychedelic slime art, he has been developing his Digital Death and Grime aesthetic since 2012. Deladeso works alongside the Bloody Gums collective, and Pizzaboyzzz, and together they hosted an immersive exhibition called nothing Cheezy at Think Tank gallery. He has created art for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and for many bands around Southern California. He is also the creator of Más fun TV where he invites creatives to come oof out and share stories, struggles and journey’s as artists.

Stephanie Godoy is a first-generation Mexican American artist based in Los Angeles, known for her vibrant, figurative oil paintings. According to her website, “Stephanie’s paintings expand on what society can consider beautiful and worthy. She carefully picks her subjects to elevate people who act on resilience. Often, her subjects are people of color who have to creatively navigate a system that was not built in their favor.” Her work has been exhibited at Riverside Art Museum, Getty Museum, Plaza De La Raza, and Self-Help Graphics. The art activist’s posters honoring Breonna Taylor, Dominique Fells, and Iyanna Dior were acquired in association with the LA County Dept. of Arts & Culture and donated to California African American Museum in Los Angeles. She also had the honor of being a featured artist at The Cheech Center and was a teaching artist at the Getty Museum in the summer of 2022.

Shizu Saldamando is a Los Angeles-based mixed-media artist and tattoo artist. She works primarily with portraiture, capturing images of real people, from loved ones, urban youth, and more. The Mexican-Japanese artist has had several solo and group exhibitions in places like the Vincent Price Art Museum, Moore College of Art and Design, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and the Japanese American National Museum. She is also a co-founder of Monte Vista Projects, a self-determining space for experimental art and conversation in LA.

Sonia Romero is based in Los Angeles and is known for her paper-cut and printmaking aesthetic. According to her website, her signature style is a dynamic combination of printmaking, paper-cutting, painting, and sculpture. Her fine art pieces have been showcased in many galleries and acquired into the collections of prominent institutions like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. She has many large-scale permanent installations in notable locations such as Little Tokyo, the Mariachi Plaza, MacArthur Park Metro Stations, and the Artesia County Public Library.