Crystal Galindo
- Crystal Galindo
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Blackxicana Queen by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Coatlicue State by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Conchitx y Que by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Corazones Cosmicas by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Dulce Orgasmico by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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La Reina de Texmex by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Mangoneada Kisses by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Sealed con Pastel by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Soldadera de los Diosas by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Tamarindo Lust by Crystal Galindo. © Crystal Galindo.
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Crystal Galindo was born in Visalia, California in 1983, where she lived until she was nearly six years old, when her parents moved the family into their new home in the nearby small town of Exeter. Growing up with two sisters and one brother meant a lack of privacy among the noises of a busy working-class family making a home in a neighborhood of Mexicans and Chicanos, with young kids bringing the streets to life.
As a shy, somewhat introverted kid, she found comfort in reading countless books, especially about art. She watched her father draw tattoo-style portraits of people in sketchbooks that were never completed. She watched her parents give up their love for the arts to take care of their four children. She vowed to pursue her own passion for art, regardless of outside responsibilities, to make a name for herself and make her parents proud.
Crystal Galindo started drawing before she set a foot in a classroom. Her first sketches began on the blank header pages of storybooks and lined sheets of paper her mom bought in packs. Ballpoint pen, marker, and colored pencils were her tools of choice until she started community college and learned to use charcoal, watercolor, and oil paints.
Crystal Galindo started to articulate stories of inner struggle, self-esteem, and society's beauty standards in 2009, when she began her series of self-portraits, which she called "Selfies." Her expressions as a woman, a Chicana (xicana), an indigenous person, and a sexual being were all topics of exploration, and her self-portraits took on a magical realism that set her work apart. Despite scrutiny from her peers and teachers when she attended the BFA program at Sonoma State University, her work continued to evolve into a celebration of self, of women of color, and an un-apologetic testimony of a shift in paradigm. Her work challenged white supremacy, Euro-American beauty standards, and the male-dominated art world.
In 2014, she debuted "Multifacética," a series of works spotlighting powerful Chicanas adorned by sacred icons and imagery reminiscent of precolonial Mesoamerica. In 2016, she debuted "Dulcería," a series dedicated to womxn and femmes of color reclaiming autonomy, indulgence, and pride. She is currently working on "Xingonxs" a series that uplifts and empowers womxn and femmes of color making changes for their collective communities.
