Growing up in Montgomery, Alabama might suggest a more traditional approach, but for self-taught artist Ashley Longshore hers is anything but. “My mother loves 18th-century impressionistic pastoral scenes,” says the New Orleans-based artist. “Good for her, but I want a big ass nude right in my dining room.”
With painting, Longshore discovered “an indescribable joy in my life.” Her passion has persisted in part because she’s eschewed traditional art galleries for social media, specifically Instagram, to help sell nearly 40 percent of her work. “[Galleries] take 50 percent, and I never know who my client is,” she says. Her following, including the 222,000 unique accounts that like and comment on her posts, has fallen in love with her vibrant, optimistic, and completely unfiltered ways.
Having drawn comparisons to Andy Warhol, her paintings reflect her larger-than-life personality. A series of Pop Art paintings, for instance—one of Lil Wayne, smiling from ear-to-ear with Matisse-like flourishes in the background and another showing a stoic Abraham Lincoln bedecked in a neon suit—create an irreverent dialogue that celebrates pop culture. Recently, her portraits have been created with feminism in mind, as she partnered with designer Diane von Fürstenberg on a series of 38 portraits of legendary women, including Michelle Obama, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the fashion icon herself.
Major brands, such as Maybelline, and high-end department store Bergdorf Goodman have realized the power of her work—with the latter hiring her to overhaul its café. “I want people to feel like they’re in my studio,” Longshore says about the design of Palette, which she dressed in glitter vinyl and, of course, her art.
With more plans in the works with von Fürstenberg next year, Longshore’s ambition is unrelenting. “You have to be true to yourself, and you can’t give up,” she says. “My job is to make art and stay away from mean bitches as much as possible.”
