By: Emily Safron
Hollywood, CA, (The Hollywood Times) 12/3/2023 – Alicia Hobbs is a contemporary artist based in Los Angeles who recently rose to success in the art world. This week she is set to appear at Art Basel in Miami, Florida.
Hobbs has found success working independently, but this year, New York-based investor GCF Family Office chose to back her and her business. This partnership will bring even greater success to Hobbs’ career. Originally aspiring to be in the medical field, Hobbs began to take art seriously when she realized it was her true passion. “As I was submitting my medical school application, I realized I would be forfeiting my true passion. I didn’t know where painting would take me, but I knew my life would be hollow without it,” she said. “I have always had a passion for art and have been painting and drawing since I could write. At age 6, my art teacher submitted my crayon drawing (a rendition of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”) into an AP high school art/college art class exhibition, and it was accepted. I was the youngest to display at that exhibit- I was only 6, and for the first time I saw how cool it was to have my art hanging on a gallery wall. “Painting paid my way through school (in addition to scholarships), yet I was still focused on becoming a doctor and saw a career as an artist unfeasible. Stereotypes can be so harmful and mentally hindering in this way, as I was terrified at the idea of becoming a starving artist. And although initially, I felt out of place on my own as an official full-time artist, I knew I wasn’t lost.”
Becoming a full-time artist has opened Hobbs’ doors to some cool experiences like commissioning a piece for Paris Hilton, which she described as a “surreal experience” and other notable stars. In 2021, she commissioned a piece of Princess Diana in her black velvet Versailles dress that she wore in her 1997 Vanity Fair photoshoot, where got to work alongside the actual dress. “During my show in the Hamptons this past summer, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were in attendance and came by my booth. That was cool!” she shared. “Even cooler, on the opening night of the show an attendee stopped in his tracks in front of my booth, took a few steps forward into the booth, then said ‘Wow, these paintings glow, and I feel closer to God in here.’ Before he walked away, he introduced himself, and I realized I had just met Bruno Bischofberger, the man who introduced Basquiat to Warhol.”
Hobbs’ current favorite collection to work on has been her Girl With a Pearl Earring pieces. “I’ve discovered how fun it is to dress her up in different outfits and combine my love for fashion and painting, while simultaneously exploring my favorite relationship between light and color. She’s like my own Barbie, from the 1600s, that I get to breathe new life into and dress her up as a modern-day woman. A large part of her inspiration has come from Hobbs’ love of fashion and other iconic historical women in art. “The clothes someone wears can say so much about them. I love the history behind the fashion and the designers. I began incorporating pieces of my clothing into my paintings, usually vintage designer pieces that I find all second-hand – Chanel furs, Hermès headscarves, a long pleated Gucci gown. The fashion aspect of my paintings has become my latest endeavor.” she said.
With Art Basel this week, Hobbs is excited for thousands of people from all over the world to discover and appreciate her paintings. “I feel like I hang them as paintings, and take them down five days later as works of art. From hearing countless new perspectives on it, to the compliments and criticism, each piece leaves with a new identity. Ultimately, a new story is formed around each of them, and I later get to view them through this new lens crafted from pure, whimsical humanity,” she said. “After shows end, I always return the next day when everything is being taken down, and sit in my empty booth atop my crate and just take it all in. I bring my journal and let my pen pace to the sounds of the forklifts driving by, and I replay and put words to all of the memories and magic made in that little booth. I unload as much as I can until I hear the inevitable, ‘Ma’am, this building is a safety hazard and you are not supposed to be in here.’ This time alone in the usually packed building is also one of my favorite moments, and although it’s at the end, it’s a beautiful ending that I look forward to every time.”
To learn more about Alicia Hobbs, you can visit her website at www.aliciahobbs.com.