Alicia Blu Art is a contemporary art business that sells authentic artwork created by founder Alicia Watton (Geography 2019) via her website and social media platforms. Alicia Blu Art specialises in figurative art and offer; original artworks, limited edition prints and commissions.
Alicia's story:
The vision for my work is to be bold, emotive and inclusive, whist ensuring artistic authenticity, exceptional quality and environmental sensitivity at each stage of the creative process.
I have always had a huge passion for art and could never seem to visualise myself going into a typical, corporate job after graduating from university. I’ve always loved being creative and I became more and more eager to explore the idea of being a full-time artist and building my own brand, even though art was not the conventional career path from my Geography degree.
During my second year, I set up a garden studio and began painting during my free time, and then throughout my final year, I began tailoring my course towards my artistic interests. I composed research into the feminist geographies around life drawing classes to understand how the spatial setting and our social background can influence how we view women and ultimately risk objectifying their bodies.
Upon completing university, I wanted to delve into this issue further so I began creating art of nude women to help promote female empowerment and body diversity. I also became increasingly frustrated that art galleries charge 40-50% commission so I wanted to cut out the middle man involved in gallery sales. Instead, social media became the most attractive space to sell my art as it allows my artwork to become physically and financially accessible to a wider audience. Ironically, social media is the ideal platform to display my body-positive pieces as it is recognised for critiquing, commoditising, objectifying, and idealising women’s bodies.
When my artistic voice and style started to effortlessly and wholeheartedly come into fruition, I knew that I had to establish Alicia Blu Art and transform my ideas and passion into a business. I love being able to pursue my passion on my own terms every single day. Having my own business enables me to be my own boss and have total control over the decision-making and creative process while working flexible hours.