Born and raised in Paris by fashion designer parents and classical musician grandparents, Chloe Trujillo grew up surrounded by music, beauty, art and design. Fascinated by science, she took a different path. She began studying matter structure and quantum mechanics at university and after graduating was eventually drawn back to the arts.
Art Zealous caught up with Chloe to discuss her complex and colorful artwork.
Art Zealous: How was it growing up in Paris?
Chloe Trujillo: Well, first of all, I can say I know the city inside and out. Whether it’s from exploring the real catacombs at twelve years old while on a sleepover with your friend because her eighteen year old brother in engineer school, instead of babysitting us at home, decides to call up three of his classmates to take us on a midnight adventure crawling through a hole under the abandoned train line bridge, getting lost in piles-of-bones of dark tunnels, swimming in strange smelling waters and ending up exiting at 5:30 am the following day in the middle of Boulevard Denfert Rochereau from a sewer. I would be hanging out in the metro with the punks (ever seen the movie “Subway” ?) or knowing all the rock clubs owners and bartenders, spending nights on the roofs and of course the insides and out of the fancy Parisian fashion world through my fashion designer parents.
It was also studying in the best historical places such as my public high school Lycee Louis le Grand, whose alumni include: Voltaire, Moliere, Delacroix, Charles Baudelaire, Victor Hugo and the list goes on, isn’t that a trip? I also loved being able to see the best art every week, spending days at the Louvre, picnicking in the Luxembourg gardens and so on. It’s funny how you can take all this cultural environment for granted until you move away. I started missing my family and friends and soon after I truly missed not only the Parisian lifestyle but the monuments, the beauty, the arts, the walls of Paris, the Seine river, the bridges.
AZ: Drink of choice?
CT: In the morning a Matcha green tea latte with coconut milk, in the evening a good glass of biodynamic French red wine and water in between. Times have changed! No more tequila shots! I still love draft beer though.
AZ: What do you listen to while you are creating?
CT: I used to listen to death metal when I was in art school while creating, but now I need the silence, primarily because my visions are stronger (my creative process is very spiritual, and I need to access some higher realms) and secondly because I write music at the same time, melodies and words literally come to me while I paint, so I want to make sure I don’t miss a note.
AZ: How has music influenced your artwork?
CT: My music and my artwork work hand in hand, they influence each other, and one is almost always created out of the other, in no particular order. Now if I’m listening to music while creating, my senses are immediately going to be influenced by it, and the result will show.
AZ: What is your creative process?
CT: I pick a surface to paint on with no particular plan in mind, I get my “tools” ready, and as soon as I sit, visions appear and I transmit them onto the surface. It’s almost as if I get guided automatically to paint these particular symbols, using these particular colors. I am a channel, and I allow these images to paint themselves through me.
AZ: Favorite museum?
CT: The Louvre! Of course, I love tons of other museums world wide, and that’s a difficult question, but I have such a connection with the Louvre, it was like a second home to me. As a student, I had a free pass and used to go every day to sketch there. I still have some notebooks from these times, with portraits of Amenophis IV or Albrecht Dürer!
I make sure to include local museums visits in all of my travels.
AZ: We understand you love Reiki, how does that help you when you’re creating?
CT: I studied and I’m certified in a few healing arts. I am also a scientist. Everything is energy, and you can infuse your work with an intention. Colors have also an important work in affecting a person, the vibrancy emits a certain wave that we catch, and feel, but sometimes so subtly that it goes almost unnoticed. All this is important in my work as a visionary, mystical artist.
AZ: Your scarves are magical, what’s your favorite way to wear them?
CT: Thank you! I wear one every day in my hair, but my favorite way to wear them is as a Kimono. I made some gigantic scarves that, with a few knots here and there, become the best kimono! I’m planning to do a book about the different looks you can achieve with my scarves, only by knotting corners and sides together – no needle or thread needed.
AZ: We love the way you use pattern in your work. How does the repetition of a single design — i.e. shape, dimensions, spacing, and color– contribute to the mood of your pieces?
CT: Every design comes from a painting first, and then ideas come from those paintings to create a certain pattern or shape or form by mixing those paintings and merging them into something new. It’s always an exciting process!
AZ: Who has influenced you the most?
CT: I think my family, I can’t pick one person, from my grandfather, who was an opera singer, to my father who is a great creative businessman, to my mom who is a amazing designer, to my husband, and my children who are all amazingly creative (my daughter started writing and illustrating children books at 4 and my son at 11 is already a professional musician, playing big festivals around the world). They all inspire me so much every day.
AZ: What do you have coming up?
CT: A show at the Laguna Art Lounge in June, an event in Venice California mid-June, an exhibition downtown LA early September and a show in London during fashion week and more, much more to come. As for the music side, I am releasing my first solo album before the end of the year, and I am currently recording songs for an acoustic project.
AZ: How can we follow you?
CT: Chloetrujillo.com, subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on IG @chloetrujillo, Facebook at IamChloeTrujillo.
