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Ashley Longshore -
Kaylie Saidin
New Orleans-based artist Ashley Longshore is best known for her vibrant mixed-media paintings, sculptures, and more, much of which can be found at her self-owned gallery on Magazine Street. From paintings of George Washington in a Supreme hoodie to hand-beaded clutches that feature empowering all-caps phrases, her work has been described as feminist pop-art, akin to that of Andy Warhol. In this interview with New Orleans Review, she talks about American culture, her work with Diane von Furstenberg, and her new coffee table book, Do Not Cook I Do Not Clean I Do Not Fly Commercial (Rizzoli).
New Orleans Review
Why did you start painting?
Ashley Longshore
I was at a time in my life when I was so overwhelmed by the idea of: What am I gonna do with my life? Where do I belong? How am I gonna fit in? How am I gonna fucking do this? You know how overwhelming that can feel. I’ve always been creative, so I went and I bought a paint kit. I sat down and I started painting, and I found this great joy, like relief. And the fact that I could step back and see my art, see my time, in this tangible form––I knew––whether I made a million dollars, or ever found the love of my life––that I had found something that would bring me great joy for my whole life.
NOR
On your website, you write that your paintings are representative of the world you see around you. So many of them deal with these aspects of modern pop and consumerist culture, icons, feminists – can you elaborate on the relationship between your perception of the world and your artwork?
Longshore
I’m an American woman, and I think I’d be lying if I said we were not all about consumerism and stuff and cars and fashion. I feel like the American dream is about coming here and starting a business and making all the money in the world to appease any desire that you might have in your life. I feel that in so much of my work, I’m poking fun at that, but also…it’s my culture. So I’m making light of it, but I’m also into it. I want a jet. I want all that stuff. But the thing about it is, I want to work for it. I don’t want somebody to just give it to me. I think my whole mission is to show people…the American dream is alive and well. And whether that dream is, you know…at the beginning of my career, my dream was to have enough money to pay all my rent. And when I would sell a little painting for $500, I would be so out of my mind excited, because I’m like, shit, I can fucking pay my rent and go eat sushi with one of my friends. Now, I want a fucking jet. I want to buy a fucking ten-million-dollar building. I want to go to India for two months and paint a whole collection. I think that the American dream is wrapped up in materialism, humor, and I think it’s about an extremely overwhelming amount of hard work. But I don’t know. I don’t like pretentiousness, I like to have fun. I think that’s why I like to poke fun at a lot of those things.
NOR
I love that your work has this sort of criticism but also acknowledgement and enjoyment of American consumerism.
Longshore
Well, what am I supposed to do? I amthat. One of my favorite paintings that I did not too long ago was called “Low Hanging Fruit”. I love that expression. God bless low hanging fruit, because it’s easy. I love it. I did this painting that literally had mad dog in it, McDonalds, a dildo––all these easy American things to get to. And then I just recently did a painting of all of these dildos, rabbits and stuff. I haven’t done a Donald Trump painting yet. I certainly have opinions about it. My first foray into expressing myself about the current political state is dildos lined up with the statement: fake news.
NOR
A lot of your work features historic or cultural figures: George Washington, Lil’ Wayne, Audrey Hepburn. How do you pick who to paint?
Longshore
I paint what makes me happy. Recently, I’ve been curated by Diane von Furstenberg to create this massive room full of empowering images of historical, fearless women, and current women that are amazing mentors and role models. Boy, is she somebody to learn from. One of the days that I was in her office standing there, she was like, oh Ashley, meet my friend Gloria, and I turn around, and it’s mother fucking Gloria Steinem. I’m hanging out with Gloria Steinem. I painted her portrait, because Diane obviously put her on the list, I mean, God bless Gloria Steinem. And Diane leans over to me, and she goes, you painted Gloria’s portrait smaller than the others. And I’m like, oh no, Diane!
I feel like I have these images of people who I love and make me feel brave. I love my Audrey, and I love combining her with these elements of nature that make me so happy. When I get around all of these images of powerful women––RBG, Frida, Audrey, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Malala, Mother Teresa, Elizabeth Taylor, Josephine Baker. I could go on and on about this collection. Hedy Lamar, for gods’ sakes. I feel very brave when I am in that room. I feel how I feel when I’m around all my best friends. You feel very empowered, like you can be exactly what you want to be. So many of these people I paint in repetition when they sell because I miss them. And I need their energy around me. When I look at them, it’s a reminder of what I can be. That’s why I paint them.
NOR
Absolutely. I loved the Megan Markle one you did recently.
Longshore
Thank you. It’s been interesting today to read a lot of the comments. I just posted that this morning, and people love her. I did have someone that made a comment and said, you got her skin color completely wrong. And I’m like, gosh, I’m so sorry you feel that way. I’ve studied so many photographs of her, and I really want as a white woman painting women of color to make sure I’m depicting them. It’s very important to me. That being said, I’m not perfect, I’m a human being, and I’m trying to work on my craft and get it perfectly right.
NOR
Megan Markle is such an interesting one. She’s an American icon, in the sense that she’s now British.
Oh my god, she’s so poised. I don’t know how she’s handling. The media, the brutality of people online, being a new mother, being a wife. I think so many people think, she’s got so much money, and it’s so far beyond that. She has so much pressure, so many eyes on her. I really think she’s a wonder woman. I really do.
NOR
A lot of your art has an ironic feeling to it. I noticed that you have a lot of work that borders on that tongue-in-cheek feeling about consumerism, especially your last book, (You Don’t Look Fat, You Look Crazy: An Unapologetic Guide to Being Ambitchious). How much of your work is meant to be tongue-in-cheek?
Longshore
That has nothing to do with me. If the viewer feels irony when they see a piece, that’s completely up to them. I painted that painting because I was out at lunch––I don’t go to lunch anymore––with a bunch of these beautiful fucking trophy wives. They were whining about looking fat. They’re all the most beautiful, gorgeous women I’ve ever seen. In my head, I’m thinking, bitch, you don’t look fat, you look fucking crazy. That’s where that came from. If someone finds that ironic, it’s because of their own life experience. That’s the beauty of art; that’s the connectivity that draws us so close together.
NOR
Yeah, absolutely. I also think you have a really strong presence on Instagram and a really devoted fan base, too. That is not something I see in a lot of modern artists.
Longshore
This is about a lot more than just me painting my thoughts. I think the thing that makes an artist, the sugar to the ants, is being self-made, not having somebody write you a check. Not having rich daddy say, “Oh you wanna have a gallery, well, let me go buy that for you. Oh, you want a big house, well, let me go get that for you.” Not going and sucking dick to get the Gucci bag that you fucking want. I think it’s about me being able to put myself out there and say, “This is hard. This is a motherfucker. You’re going to have snot bubbles and your ribs are gonna hurt, but it’s all going to be worth it, because you can do this yourself.” I think being able to inspire people and to put that positive optimistic energy out there is really what the world needs. It’s what I need. It’s definitely what I need. I thrive on it.
NOR
I feel like your Instagram is almost a work of art in itself. You’re sharing your artistic process with your fans, something we don’t usually get a glimpse of.
Longshore
There’s lots of different ways to do it. This is just how I do mine.
NOR
You’re nontraditional in the sense that you don’t do the whole pay-to-play traditional gallery system and that you’re self-taught.
Longshore
Fuck galleries. I’m not giving up 50% to anybody.
NOR
How has not following the implicit rules of the art world helped you succeed?
Longshore
I had to find my own way. I don’t need to follow the rules. They told me I wasn’t marketable. I didn’t have to prove anything to anybody about myself. I’m sure as fuck not going to give up 50 fucking percent. I think that is insane. I think the lesson is that you really can find your own way up the mountain. You don’t have to follow the trail.
NOR
So that you can learn to promote and market yourself and engage with your own fans.
Longshore
Exactly. You need to know who your own audience, you need to know who your collectors are. For me, I wanted to know the people who were buying my artwork. They’re like family. They buy my thoughts, they live with my thoughts. That energy is special.
NOR
Who do you feel is your primary audience?
Longshore
I couldn’t narrow that down. I feel like it’s extremely diverse. It’s men and women. It ranges all the way from a six-year-old that comes to my gallery to a 95-year-old woman who I love with my heart. I think that being optimistic and inspiring other people to not be afraid, to be authentic and to be who they are, is a timeless thing. It’s not like I’m posting selfies of myself, like oh my god, I’m feeling so hot tonight, look at my makeup, it’s perfect, look at this size 2 dress. That’s all great, but I feel like it’s the imperfections that bring us closer together. It’s the shit that goes wrong––that’s when the magic happens. It isn’t when everything goes right. I mean, that’s when the adventures start. I think people are pretty starved for that. They’re starved to go, damn, it’s okay to be me. It’s okay that I don’t look like everybody else. I need that in my life, I need that bad in my life. I mean, not everybody looks like fucking Gigi Hadid. You know? Thank god.
NOR
My last question for you is, what can fans expect from your book, I Do Not Cook, I Do Not Clean, I Do Not Fly Commercial?
Longshore
Well, it’s my first coffee table book. It’s out right now, which is so exciting. It’s full of lots of my different collections. There’re handwritten letters in there you’ll see. There’s some great acknowledgements from Diane von Furstenberg and Tommy Hilfiger and Linda Fargo and Blake Lively. it’s just really cool to actually have this book. There’s some very, very fun things happening 2020 that I can’t wait for everybody to see.
NOR
Thank you so much for interviewing with me today.
Longshore
No––thank you. I just want to say that it’s so exciting to see how so many of the college kids that I meet now are so inspired, thoughtful, motivated, and empathetic. I feel like even though it’s a weird time in politics, and it’s a weird time when you turn on the news, I hope that it’s a mirror to know that there’s never been a more important time to be exactly who you are. To be true to yourself, and to go out there, and to give it all you fucking got. Because the world really fucking does need you. One hundred percent.
Kaylie Saidin is an MFA candidate at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. She reads fiction at Ecotone and Pithead Chapel. She has her BA from Loyola New Orleans, where her fiction won the 2018 Dawson Gaillard Award and the 2019 Barbara Ewell Creative Writing Contest. Her stories have appeared in Catamaran Literary Reader, upstreet #15, and elsewhere.
