StyleBlazer Artist You Should Know: Jasmine Nicole

Photo: Jasmine Nicole 

Discussions about art are some of the most complex conversations one can engage in, because it’s all subjective.

What makes art, art? What moves one person may not move another, and for someone who isn’t artistically inclined it often seems that the king is wearing no clothes. Especially living in a city like New York where everything can be considered a form of artistic expression. We almost become inundated with it, but every now and again you come across something that stirs you. It resonates with you and makes you feel something you can’t even quite put into words.

Photo: Jasmine Nicole 

This is what I experienced when I came across a piece by Jasmine Nicole. Her paintings of women of color –literally– with natural hair in their natural state spoke to me in such a way that I felt compelled to get an understanding of who this girl is and why she does what she does.

On how she got started: “I actually started painting two and a half years ago. It was really just more of a tool because I needed something to do that would be therapeutic. I was dealing with a lot graduating from Ohio State. About five or six months after I graduated I started painting. I started planning in August that I wanted to do an event for Thanksgiving called Art On Purpose, and I got three other artists I was familiar with donate some pieces and I put everything on silent auction and I had a function with music and a friend of mine catered, I sold raffle tickets and got donations and I used that money to buy 25 Thanksgiving dinners for families. So from there I was like, ‘Oh, people like my art.’ I utilize my network to bring people together and have a great time and do something for the community in Columbus, Ohio.”

On her purpose: “I used it as a platform to shine light on what I find to be beautiful. The first pieces I did were black women, natural black women. It morphed into another journey [where] some of the women aren’t fully complete [in the paintings]. Some [are missing limbs or parts] at the bottom, some at the top, some are through the middle but there’s that missing component and it’s like something that as women we can relate. Sometimes you feel like that. You’re looking or waiting for that man to be placed and you click with him and have this life you’ve dreamt about your whole life. But you’re still a woman. It’s that pull and tug and that journey is there. It still has sexuality, it’s not taking away and it’s not hindering or dampening it in any way.”

On how her personal style relates to her art: “I am not a fashionista. I’m very much plain Jane. I’m such a flower child, but that’s my fashion. I like minimalism in my fashion and I find myself trying to do that with my art. Like I don’t have too much going on in one piece, besides the inclusion of color. It’s not like a million different things going on that you may recognize from a Basquiat piece or something like that. I guess you can say it’s congruent between the two my style and my art.”

If Jay Z called her out to Paris for a week long showcase of emerging artists and she could pack only one bag: “My favorite pair of ripped jeans, blue jeans and black jeans. A couple crop tops. My favorite jean shirt. My hair stuff, because I know I’m gonna have to do my hair. My paint, my paint brushes. This is literally all the stuff that was in my bag at Art Basel too. One pair of heels.”

Her mantra: “Say yes.”

Click through more of Jasmine’s style photos on the next pages.

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