Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela.
Hi Angela, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Angela Faustina, and I’m an American contemporary realism artist who is known for my vivid, close-up oil paintings and murals of perfectly ripe fruit. My work transforms everyday produce like pomegranates, peaches, figs, and citrus into vibrant compositions that blur the line between realism and idealism. These magnified images signify life’s richness and fragility, reflecting both universal beauty and personal depth. I’m lucky enough to have art galleries and art collectors throughout the world.
Raised in sunny Fort Lauderdale, I grew up imaginative and constantly creating but never considered myself particularly skilled at art. In high school I leaned toward history and the social sciences and figured my future lay in academics.
That changed in 2005 at New College of Florida, when a spontaneous decision to take an art class with visiting professor Joseph Norman ignited my passion. An unconventional approach – tearing up our own artwork – freed me from the pursuit of perfection and rekindled my childhood joy in creating.
Art quickly became my obsession. To catch up with my more experienced peers, I took additional courses at Ringling School of Art and Design and Parsons in NYC. By 2007, I was already exhibiting work, joining artist collectives, and curating group shows. That same year a simple jack-o-lantern inspired my first fruit painting.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like most other artists, I have had my share of personal and professional challenges. Besides starting my art making journey later in life than some other artists, I also live with chronic illness. Painting and working can be next to impossible for me during a Lupus flare up, where joint pain, swelling, and fatigue can cause me to be bed bound. It’s also a struggle to find a balance between creative authenticity and commercial viability. Developing a unique visual style— close ups of hyperrealistic fruit —was a breakthrough, but getting to that point involved years of experimentation, rejection, and persistence.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My sticky-sweet oil paintings transform glistening fruit into its own unique world. Capturing perfectly ripe, juicy fruit flesh in each brushstroke, my artwork focuses on the beauty and vibrancy of life. These paintings are bright, lively, intimate, and bold as hell. Walking the line between realism and idealism, these are not your traditional still life paintings.
Close-cropped but not confined, my fruit is a surreal, sensual landscape that serves to bridge the universal and the personal. I peel back the surface, exposing the overlooked textures, patterns, and colors that most people miss. It’s not just about fruit—it’s about what’s underneath. That deeper layer reflects my reality living with Lupus, a chronic illness that demands constant awareness. My work pulses with contrast: strength and softness, beauty and pain, presence and vulnerability, life and decay.
Although it is presented in an original way, the common subject matter represents a universally shared experience that spans borders, religion, and culture. Due to my fresh take on the genre and the universal appeal of my subject matter, I’m honored to share that my artwork has been collected and exhibited for nearly two decades in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. My mouth-watering murals are on view in America’s vibrant southeastern cities, including Atlanta, GA, Chattanooga, TN, and St. Petersburg, FL. Educators around the world include my artwork in their still life and photorealism curricula. I am represented by Signet Contemporary Art in London, England.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I couldn’t do this without the support of my family! They have stood by me through health challenges, late nights in the studio, and the ups and downs of the art world. I’m also very lucky to have galleries like Signet Contemporary Art in London and ABV Gallery and Cat Eye Creative Gallery locally in Atlanta, who have helped promote and represent my artwork to a broader audience. Art collectors and mural clients have also been important. Even after all this time, they give me the resources and encouragement to keep going.
I may be the one holding the paintbrush but my career is built on a web of people who believed in me long before I fully believed in myself!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://angelafaustina.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelafaustina
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaFaustina/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/angelafaustina
- Other: https://linktr.ee/AngelaFaustina
