Kiara Costa - OZMA
Back in December I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kiara (IG @OZMAART) in her apartment/studio space to discuss her art and discover a little more about her story. I’ve been a fan of her work since I came across her piece of ‘El Fogon’ a while back. ‘El Fogon’ was this legendary restaurant on Broad street that burned down in 2006 and to see it on my timeline really caught me off guard. the longer I followed her, the more drawn I became to the asthetics of her work, especially the things she choses to draw (& what she draws them on too!). We ended up talking for a while and then she let me take a few shots of her art space. Thanks again to Kiara for the opportunity and check out the a few questions she answered for me down below!
1. Where do you get your inspiration from?
A lot of my creativity derives from my own nostalgia and stories I want to tell w/o actually having to tell them. When I was little I was painfully shy and often found it hard to articulate my emotions. Drawing and painting became a way for me to express what was going on in my mind and a way for me to connect with other people. And I still feel I use it in that way. Most of what I make, whether it’s a pop culture reference, a portrait, a place, an object, has a backstory for me. Everything has a memory or feeling attached to it even if it seems superficial on the surface. I think it’s interesting to think about how these subjects have influenced me and how they’ve made other people relatable.
2. What made you start drawing on USPS stickers and menus?
A graff friend of mine put me on to USPS stickers years ago. The fact that they were free, accessible and an easy way to throw your name up was what was appealing at first. But then I felt like the labels had more potential than to carry just my tag. What I really fell in love with was the texture of the paper and how perfectly prisma markers wrote on them. I also loved the challenge of their confined space and working with or around the wording already printed on them. USPS stickers really made me appreciate unconventional things to draw and paint on. I feel like the menus and receipts I’ve made art with are just another variation of that. Again, the love of the challenge of working with what’s already there on the page and making something that someone might disregard or throw away into something beautiful. Specifically with the Chinese take-out menus, I felt like something beautiful was already there. Like the take-out menu has become this pretty antique. We all order our food online now, almost no one I know keeps a drawer of take-out menus in their house anymore and fewer restaurants even give out physical menus. It felt sort of akin to people no longer mailing each other handwritten letters. I guess that’s my nostalgia kicking in.
3. As an artist, what are some of the biggest obstacles you’ve overcome to get this far?
Self doubt of course. Sometimes being an artist can be exhausting because it’s like you’re constantly in a therapy session with yourself. You really have to be prepared to be both your own fan and your own worst critic. As difficult as it can be though, it’s extremely fulfilling. I’ve been making art my entire life and I only really began to pursue it in 2020. I think it took me getting to a certain point in my life where I was torn all the way down and had to build myself back up to feel confident enough to do it. I think I realize now too that, me being who I am, I just had a lot I needed to say and art was the only way I knew to do it.
4. What does your work say about you?
It’s hard for me to guess what other peoples’ interpretations are, but for myself when I look at my art I just feel like it’s a representation of what’s going on in my head. It’s me living in my own world. Probably a world made a little too much up by things from the past, but it’s joyful and colorful there. I think my art definitely says “I am a millennial.” Haha
5. What artistic goals you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year?
First, I want to get inspired by new experiences. Travel, meet new people and see what I make out of that. Mainly though, I want to continue to be challenged. I’ve experimented with art this past year in ways I never would’ve imagined. I love when people commission me to do things I’ve never done before. I haven’t set any specific goals that I’m holding myself to, I’m open to anything and everything even the failures. I want to keep surprising myself, that’s a great feeling.