We are so excited to have local Las Vegas artist, Cristina Natsuko Paulos, in Small Space Fest!  Her work is vulnerable, personal and we are looking forward to seeing more!

From Cristina's Bio:

Cristina Natsuko Paulos is an award ­winning artist and animator whose work has appeared in an original animation short for Sesame Street ,prestigious galleries such as La Luz De Jesus and Giant Robot, as well as the Cirque du Soleil Contemporary Art Collection.  In addition to having her work featured in two books, Garden Of Eye Candy and La Luz de Jesus 25: The Little Gallery That Could, her films have been screened at festivals in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  She has also collaborated with numerous puppeteers to create toy theatre puppetry performances. She recently completed an animation short for the “Life Is Beautiful Festival” located in Downtown Las Vegas. 

A BFA graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, Paulos grew up in the San Fernando Valley but has made Las Vegas her home since 2002. She has been the recipient of several grants from the Nevada Arts Council, including twice winning the NAC's Jackpot Grant and a 2008 Artist Fellowship, as well as a 2005 Sesame Street Workshop Scholarship.  As an artist, Paulos incorporates a variety of materials and techniques, including ink, paint, dye, handmade paper, canvas, wood and mixed media. Her work is a mixture of fine art and illustration, primarily focusing on imagery of twinned and mirrored characters, as well as portraiture and imagery and subject matter drawn from life.

My artwork derives from life, juxtaposed with the cartoon world. My art is created from the philosophies of drawing. Using these philosophies, my goal is to reveal the marks and capture the articles we often remove from ourselves and in our personal identities whether in cartoon form or from life, or the perception. These would including our flaws, our uncomfortableness and our explorations of our own vulnerabilities when truly, completely naked, apart from our bodies and form.  Using the materials of drawing: loose graphite, charcoal, sumi inks, dyes, found material and handmade papers, I hope to create work which show the organic foundations of humanness.”

More of her work: http://www.cristinapaulos.com/