What I can appreciate about Ashley Longshore are way too many to list. But of those includes my respect and admiration for taking inspired action towards her dreams. I know the story too well. The 17-year-old writer who created her own space on the internet writing and creating from her small teenage bedroom where she outgrew Chris Brown posters in hopes of becoming a famous writer to later becoming an ambassador for Vogue hosting events for their Fashion’s Night Out at age 21. They were in New York. I was headquartered in Las Vegas. They found me on the internet. When business inquiries began rolling in, it hit me like my cat’s paw that being a creative was not enough to succeed. I had to learn the business side, too.
Longshore overid the destiny that most artists and creatives face: an artistic career without much acclaim. By getting business and tech savvy, she turned her Instagram into her own art gallery. Longshore’s hilarious, and sometimes unsolicited advice, and unapologetically feminist pop art has sold $1.3 million dollars worth of paintings in two-hours and up-to $45,000 for one of her most pieces from her L.A. debut collection.
I wanted to discover why the long wait to show in Los Angeles, California; how her friendship with Eric Buterbaugh, perfumer and celebrity florist, was formed who hosted Longshore’s first exhibition at his Beverly Boulevard gallery (available to the public now until May 24); the importance of supporting female artists. And, how she manages to lead with all of the confidence in the world.
1. You said you were waiting years to make the trek. What was the hesitation?
At this point in my career I really like to collaborate with people that share the same vibe with me and I adore Eric because not only does he love to have fun, not only does he work hard and produce such amazing beautiful things, but also we just we have the same sensibilities. We like to enjoy life. And it just felt right. It just was a match.
2. You speak so highly of Eric in the press release for your event, and honestly? Squad goals AF! I need a friend that can hype me up like that, lol! What did he say or do when you first met that made it a swipe right-for-life type-of friendship?
His friend patrick Herning who is the founder of 11 honorary hosted a dinner party for me at Eric’s beautiful home in the hills and I walked in and he had a red christmas tree and it lit up like a whore house and at that very moment i said i feel like i’m at home and there you have it.
3. “I will be thin. I will do thin things.” When I first saw your painting, I laughed because I’ve done PLENTY of those. But it also went straight to my subconscious and unlocked the first encounter I had where I was made to feel I wasn’t worthy of love because I had always been a chubby kid. I’m wondering where does your confidence come from? As a young woman in entertainment myself, there’s more of “them” than there are of us represented in the media. Not only are you unapologetic about who you are, but you’re physically in a lot of your work even when it comes down to promo material. Some of us can’t even stand to look at a full-body shot.
I mean, I think confidence comes from being able to say, “I love me some me.” And I think being an entrepreneur, and just being able to put yourself out there, is that I accept myself. I love who I am. I accept that I’m different and authentic. I accept that I don’t look like anyone one else and that is what makes me special. When I come to terms with that I lose all fear of putting myself out there.
Being on camera sharing my artwork with the world because no matter what anybody says I know who I am and I know that I’m going to be ok with me. I think this is a process that can take a lot of time to get to and maybe you get there when you’re 5 years old maybe you get there when you’re 80-years-old. I think we’re all on a journey to find that and I’m not completely confident in every way. I’m just confident enough at this point to put myself out there. Hopefully, I will get to a point where you know I can streak very high profiled events with full media coverage.
4. Did you choose fame, wealth, and status specifically to the culture of L.A.? What was your thought process for this L.A. collection?
Honestly, fame wealth and status, to me, are American ideals. We are consumers. Americans are worker bees. I feel like the root of our culture is clout. The idea that you can come to America and make anything happen is what is so amazing about this country. So I feel like I didn’t have to play into the L.A. scene as much as I fit into the L.A. scene because I think they’re really going to get what I have to say here. I think anybody that’s putting themselves out there that wants to have success in some form or another will get it. You know?
5. Why is it important to support female artists? Is it more important now than before?
Well first and foremost I think that you should support all artists. Anyone that’s brave enough to put themselves out there deserves to be celebrated because it is a hard thing to do. I think it’s an incredible time for female artists because through social media and self-representation there’s much more opportunity to get yourself out there. For so long, in the gallery world, it was really hard. It still is very hard for women to get the same opportunities as men.
I often wonder are men more celebrated because women are thought to be more theatrical and dramatic than a man? Does it mean more if a man is willing to express himself. You know? The answer is no. Perveying human condition is what captures the time that we live in now. That is very important. Artists document history. When we want to learn about the past we go to a museum. We see artifacts. We see beautiful things.
90% — and I could be wrong here but I know I’m close– of all artwork in American museums [are] by men. We need to change that. The more money and the more power female artists have, the more control we have over how we put ourselves out there. Feminists need money. This is how we get there. Put yourself out there. I firmly believe in that.
