Lydia Emily, aka Lydiaemily Archibald, is a street artist, muralist, and oil painter. Her signature style is realistic oil portraits with political and current themes.[1] Her portraits are always painted on the Sunday New York Times sealed to canvas. She then translates her oil paintings into large murals in cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lydia Emily is considered one of few prominent and prolific female street artists in a predominantly male field. In 2012 she founded The Karma Underground[2] or TKU, a not for profit organization that advocates for a free Tibet.
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| Website | Official website |
Personal life
editLydia Emily was born 1971 in Chicago, the youngest of two, but has lived in cities all over the world, including Berlin, Istanbul, New Orleans, and New York. She has lived in Los Angeles since 2002 where she is raising her two daughters, her youngest has autism, and works out of her studio in Pasadena, CA. In 2012, Lydia Emily was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. After her diagnosis, she used her work to promote awareness of multiple sclerosis.[3] In 2021, she was the subject of a short documentary film "Lydia Emily's Last Mural", which focused on her struggle as an artist living with MS.
Career
editHer work has been featured nationally and worldwide, with shows in Milan, Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco. Lydia Emily has done murals for Gucci charity Chime For Change[4] and The Weinstein Company film Fruitvale Station the Oscar Grant Story.[5]
In 2010 Lydia Emily was featured on Voice of Art with Pharrell Williams.[6] GALLERIES/MUSEUMS Include: Museum Of Latin American Art, LALAGallery, La Luz De Jesus Gallery LA, Red Bull Gallery, Scope Gallery Miami, Lab Art Gallery Los Angeles,[7] ArtShare LA Gallery, Paint Berlin Germany. Pop-up Galleries in Washington DC, Milan Italy and Haiti. Lydia Emily has done murals in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brooklyn, Phoenix, Oakland, Saint Thomas USVI, Washington DC, Private collectors include Bob Dole and the Winston Churchill Family.
Gallery
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Lydia Emily teams up with D YOUNG V to paint a mural in San Francisco. -
Lydia Emily gives an Interview high above the city. -
Lydia Emily Posing with Artists LeBA, Rskls, Daniel Lahoda from LaLa arts and others participating in the 7th Letter Msk Team walk in Southern California. -
Lydia Emily painting in the Virgin Islands
References
edit- ^ "An Interview with Lydia Emily". 20 May 2011.
- ^ "Home". thekarmaunderground.com.
- ^ Simon, Helen (12 June 2019). "Muralist Lydia Emily Uses Art to Publicize Hardships of Life with MS". multiplesclerosis news today. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
- ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
- ^ "Street artist murals to promote 'Fruitvale Station' hit some walls". Los Angeles Times. 4 July 2013.
- ^ "Voice of Art Pt. 2 - Street Art vs. Illegal Billboards". YouTube.
- ^ "This Woman's Work is This Woman's World: This Artweek.LA (March 12, 2012)". HuffPost. 14 March 2012.