Despite being surrounded by art growing up and having a close relationship with her National Artist grandfather, Arturo Luz, Paulina Luz Sotto-Llanes only started heeding the call of the abstract arts three years ago. Now a full-time visual artist, she is making a splash in the local art scene having already sold hundreds of paintings. Her work is an exploration of the beauty and the impeccable simplicity of a line. In this MEGA exclusive in partnership with Converse, here is Paulina, brazen and brilliant, in her own words.
How do you redefine being a girl in this day and age?
“Being a girl today is very liberating because people are more open-minded. Take it a few decades back and people would say that when you get married, you can no longer focus on yourself. Becoming a wife isn’t all that you are. We are able to go beyond what is expected of us.”
What is your experience in breaking through your own walls to come out strong and be one-of-a-kind in your field?
“I guess it’s purely instinct and maybe it’s in my genes because my grandfather is a national artist. My personal experience being an artist came about by chance. It started out as a hobby and had zero intention of selling. Social media played a huge role because that’s how people saw it. And in that sense, I’m lucky that people resonate with my work.”
How did this help you reach where you are now?
“I think it was all about the way I started, because the way I started, [I really had] zero intentions so I’ve been just carrying that over until now. I really have a brand that people know me for. There are certain things about my paintings that people already associate me with. So in that sense there are certain lines that I don’t like to cross. But it’s really just instinct, from the beginning until now because that’s what works I guess.”
What makes you bold and unafraid to go beyond your limits?
“I don’t paint to please a certain type of audience. I’m also not afraid of people criticizing my work. It’s hard to bring me down because I’m a very strong person.”
What tips do you have to empower women to break through their own personal hindrances and seek out greatness?
“Being yourself. It sounds so cliché but seriously, before I stated this whole art thing I was taking up advertising for college. That was what I was supposed to do but I hated it. Art found me by chance. Be yourself, follow your passions and do what you want to do. You have to be in the right situation. You have to be lucky. Take a chance because you’ll never know what would happen.”
This 2019, I’d like to see more girls ________________
“This 2019, I’d like to see more girls realize their worth. Never settle for less that what they deserve.”
Makeup by Bobbi Brown
