Boss Women of the Art World: Ashley Longshore
This series is meant as praise to some of the women who laid the foundations for or who currently shaking things up in the art world.
Ashley Longshore, Cursing, Cocaine and Fornicating is Forbidden in the Loo
Traditional art market structures dictate that artists make art; galleries sell art, and everyone stays in their lane.
Ashley Longshore’s career is marked by a determination to shun such structures.
After deciding that working with galleries was serving only to devalue her work, and yet costing her a 50 per cent commission for each sale, Longshore turned away from the gallery system. Instead, the artist, who lives and works in New Orleans, built a virtual empire independent of traditional art world structures.
Today, Longshore’s flourishing career is a testament to the power of an entrepreneurial approach to art-making. Like an ever-growing pool of artists, Longshore was among the first contemporary artists to harness the power of Instagram as a platform through which to sell her art.
The art market has dragged its proverbial heels in the uptake of the online art market, despite the UBS and Art Basel Art Market Report estimating online transactions represented 9% of all global art sales last year.
Longshore, however, was early on the uptake of online art sales and is therefore well ahead of the curve. Indeed, she spoke with Vogue about the role of Instagram as an emerging platform for art sales as early as 2014, citing the benefits of cutting out the middle person and putting the artist in control.
Social media has empowered Longshore who has subsequently experienced ever-growing commercial success. A prolific artist, Longshore produces a high volume of work which she then releases for sale via Instagram. This allows her to sell huge amounts of work in relatively short periods, most famously she used Instagram to sell $1.3 million worth of work in under two hours.
Longshore continues the pop-art tradition of portraying the rich and famous, but from a uniquely feminist perspective. When she isn’t painting (often lude) words of advice, such as The Clitoris is Not That Hard to Find (a work that includes one hidden interactive antique doorbell), Cursing, Cocaine And Fornicating is Forbidden in the Loo and my personal favourite Francis Bacon Hated Bacon, Longshore’s subjects are generally female icons, women who changed history and inspire her. Longshore’s portraits have featured the likes of Oprah, Frida Kahlo, Anna Wintour, and Yayoi Kasama. The artist uses a multi-media method which incorporates acrylic paint, glitter and sequins to create these brightly coloured portraits.
Ashely Longshore, Frida Kahlo
The artists’ vibrant artworks are imbued with her personality; Longshore works in series, which combine pop-culture references with Hollywood glamour, American consumerism, sass and feminism. These are themes with which the artist is well-acquainted, having become increasingly present in the United States’ celebrity circles in the last three years.
Longshore’s work has caught the eye of celebrity creatives and collectors alike. The artist has secured partnerships with the likes of Diane von Fürstenberg, Gucci, Maybelline and Bergdorf Goodman, for whom she was the first solo female artist to exhibit in the Manhattan department stores’ Fifth Avenue window displays.
Longshore’s success has been further solidified by the interest of celebrity art collectors including Blake Lively, Katherine Heigl, Penelope Cruz and notably fashion-industry power couple, Dee and Tommy Hilfiger. Through her relationship with the Hilfiger family, Longshore has been able to connect with art market platforms from which an artist working without external representation might otherwise be excluded. In 2019, the Hilfiger’s hosted a party for Longshore during Art Basel Miami Beach, turning their home in Golden Beach, Florida into a private showing of Longshore’s paintings.
These partnerships have rendered Longshore something of a darling of the United States’ fashion industry. Indeed, in 2019 Longshore was named the first official Artist-in-Residence for New York Fashion Week, making her a walking testament to the at-times blurry lines between art and fashion.
A conversation Longshore had backstage of the Dennis Basso show during the 2019 New York Fashion Week speaks to a career which repeatedly came up against obstacles but led to great success. Longshore was scheduled to close the runway in a look created especially for her by the designer, before taking the runway she said, “two years ago I couldn’t get a seat to any of the shows … all you need is a Bergdorf’s collaboration, your own restaurant at Bergdorf Goodman, an installation with Diane von Furstenberg and to paint live at Christian Siriano to get a good seat at a fashion show. It’s wild!”
As an artist, a woman and an entrepreneur she embodies the feminist ideals her art espouses; bold ambition and unapologetic success.
Image sources unknown.
Katie Lynch,
Contributor, MADE IN BED