False Glory
Prolific Visual Artist, Melissa Leslie Quinones has been creating visuals through painting, photography, apparel graphics and her fountain of inspiration in the online magazine, MLoveizm. Her rocky start began from a detrimental experience as a female minority in the sticks of the mid-west. School loans was her only way out of Indiana and with a that she was off to the colourful city of San Francisco where much of her experiences unfold to this day on canvas. She has travelled from San Diego to Orange County to Los Angeles doing shows and building her businesses.
Many of her fans know her from her bold urban inspired paintings of famous Artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Ericka Badu. What’s putting her on the map these days is all the above but more specifically her new detail drenched series “Heaven, Earth and the In-Betweens”. From studio visits, her patrons have said to think her later works are visually striking, evoke thoughts, exude a light and personally disturb you to the core.
Leslie has shown a great deal of growth not only in her works but her personal growth in which reflects tremendously. Her influences growing up were everyone from friends to her music choices to the accumulated vices she indulged in her destructive lifestyle. She learned quickly at a young age that she was different from everyone else. Her innocence was hastily taken when she began to understand racism. Her need to express was compounded even further by a somewhat ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ household doused in denial. There was a sense of provoked anger and art was the only means of an outlet for Leslie. One of the things that stayed in her mind frequently was how a few of her teachers told her she wasn’t meant for this small town and that she was a big fish in a small pond. She was encouraged to get to a big city where her art would be appreciated and could thrive.
After a season in an even smaller town with racism blaring so loud you would see confederate flags on the windows of houses and cars. In this small town she found a friend in which she identified with quickly as she was from Russia and knew a thing or two about the prejudices and childhood catastrophes they experienced. She was in-between two worlds. Her boyfriend at the time was a Christian and her friends provided a familiar comfort in vices that later became her slave master.
Creative Hibernation
When she found her boyfriend was nothing more than a hypocrite she pushed the idea of God ‘out of her mind’ and went on a journey to find the truth of life on her own. After a year of debauchery and a full semester of failure in grades in Indianapolis and a long summer of cocaine she decided she was going to go for it, she was going to get a school loan and go to the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
She arrived in the bay area and immediately fell in love with it. She was ready to make a new start but unfortunately her bondage with the past was her addiction in San Francisco as well. She quickly became good friends with club owners, bartenders,
entertainers, photographers, models, and various CEO’s alike. Her thirst for taking the party scene to another level was out of control and her grades reflected it clearly. After many months of drowning in alcohol and go go dancing at the most popular club in the city she found herself burnt out and malnourished in her one bedroom apartment in Nob Hill. Her ‘friends’ were nowhere to be found. Her apartment filled with empty wine bottles, murmurs of her psychotic neighbour and depression. She went through her second withdraw alone. At the end of about 2 weeks she spoke to the Lord, she knew He was there all along waiting for her call and immediately her eyes filled with tears of repentance and embrace in His love…The weeks that followed brought about her musical series where “City of Hendrix’ was birthed and a new motivation was sprouted.
A week later she was connected with her future husband through art and poetry, it was there that MLoveizm Magazine emerged known at that time as ‘Minds of A Modern Day Artist’ on MySpace. Although their beginnings was a train wreck in itself it drove their relationships with their Maker to a deeper connection. In this growth they have overcome their alcohol addictions. They have pushed each other’s art and a careers in so many ways and propelled them into a confident walk as entrepreneurs and ambassadors for the arts.
In watching how she carries herself now is like looking at two totally different people. What once was her master is now no longer her desire. She now spends her spare time thinking of ways to help others be more mindful of the current food and health industry, pondering concepts for future photo shoots, promoting other artists on MLoveizm.com which pushes Artists from painters to poets to designers and everything in-between. She is definitely in the most creative and productive season yet and we look forward to the complete unveiling of her new series.
Recent Comments