Meet Veli: A Talented Artist and Entrepreneur to Check out

Jan 20

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Check out this creative's shop today

As an artist, Veli's talent speaks for itself. The Queens NYC creative has an impressive body of work that spans from portraits to surrealism, each containing a specific style that is all her own. Black women representation is a constant in her art, along with themes of outer space, spirituality and what many would consider "weird". We've known of Veli's talent as an artist for some years now, and with her expanding merch and artwork business, she's made some impressive strides as a full fledged entrepreneur.On her website, you can cop stickers, prints, totes, clothes and more with official Veli V artwork. She's also open for commissions (We've worked with her on a T-shirt design before that was outstanding). For those interested in hearing more from the artist herself, we were able to chat with her a bit below. We discussed what the past few years have been like, along with her growth as an artist and some advice for full time artists. Read up and make sure you tap in and support here.

1. Welcome back to Gritty Vibes! It's been a few years since our last feature and you've come a long way as an artist. Can you talk a bit about who you are as an artist in 2022?

2021 was a trial and error period for me as an artist where certain things worked and certain things didn’t. 2022 I’m a more focused and disciplined artist. I have 2 sides of my artistry which I call Faces and Outer Spaces. Faces is the cartoon realism portrait side of my artistry. I draw portraits of black women with various different skintones and hairstyles to showcase the diversity of our beauty. Outer Spaces is the surrealism side of my artistry. I incorporate spiritual and outer space themes to put an image to inner dialogues I have as a way to heal. This year I want to do less group shows and be more self sufficient. I’m focused on gaining more of an online presence and consistent customers until I can do my own shows.

2. It's always impressive to see a creative doing their thing full time (Goals!). For those reading this, what are some ways that people can support your art?

I sell merchandise on my site velitheartist.com such as prints, mugs, totes, phone cases and more. I have a new collection called the ButterflEYE collection which is mostly wearable merchandise. I’m also open for commissions.

"I want to do my first solo show this year and I want to call it Faces and Outer Spaces. Every painting will combine both the portrait and surrealism side of my artistry into one."

3. As someone who is well known for cartoon realism portraits, what led you into surrealism? Also, do you have a favorite piece of yours?

Most of my life I’ve actually gone back and forth between surrealism and portraits. When I started taking art seriously in 2017, I was doing surrealism but I was under the impression my work would be better received if I focused on portraits. When I started painting in 2020 I started doing surrealism but once I focused on getting better at digital in 2021, I fell back into doing portraits. In November I felt the need to dive back into surrealism because I was going through a hard time emotionally and wanted to let it out in a constructive way. Now I want to balance doing both. My favorite piece is Sending My Love.

4. You mentioned wanting to sell more merch to open up time for personal projects. Do you have any specific projects in mind that you're hoping to work on this year?

I want to do my first solo show this year and I want to call it Faces and Outer Spaces. Every painting will combine both the portrait and surrealism side of my artistry into one. I already have a few 16x20 paintings for it but want to make bigger pieces for it as well.

5. Any advice that you'd like to leave with those who wanna become full time artists? Anything else you'd like to add?

Have a decently sized savings before you do. Have realistic expectations. Self promote on multiple different platforms. Have different merch at various different price points so more people can support you. For example, I have paintings that can cost as much as $500 but I also have stickers that cost as little as $5. I would just like to add that my social media accounts.

Ig: Veli.the.artist

tik tok: velitheartist

Twitter: kreepaveli