CRYSTAL GALINDO is a Yaqui-Xicana artist born and raised in California. She grew up with dreams of being a well-known artist/figure painter. Her first drawings were in coloring books and the blank pages of bedtime stories shared among her three siblings. Determined to perfect her skill, she spent countless hours filling lined notebooks with her studies of figures, ranging from close-ups of faces to cholo style portraits.
Crystal’s main influence in the arts was her father, who gave up his own dreams of portraiture to support his family. Before enrolling in drawing fundamentals and beginning painting at College of the Sequoias in 2004, she was self-taught.
After relocating to the San Francisco Bay area, her work began to reach a larger audience, using social media to broaden her exposure. She became recognized for her bright, “confrontational” self-portraits and celebration of her culture.
Her portraits emphasize the importance of representation while celebrating the power and pride her subjects exude. While still an undergraduate student at Sonoma State University, her portraits traveled the state in various group exhibitions and galleries and her work has continued to been shown in numerous venues across California and the nation.
