Daily Dose Of Sofrito: The Art of ChangoBi

by: Micheal Iannuzzi

ChangoBi is a Brooklyn-born, Puerto Rican, mixed-media artist. ChangoBi’s artistic nature expresses itself through a variety of disciplines. Whether you taste her spirit through her paintings, her life-drawing, vlogging, photography, her indie films or her American Tribal belly dance you can only embrace a part of her nature. She is a work of living art in constant creation; an artist  continually giving birth to her self with each stroke of the brush, twist of the word and flash of the camera. Her art embodies her true nature; her true nature embodies her art.

Born in the heart of Brooklyn her artistic nature lay carefully nesting inside her; light within life waiting for the right moment to be born. Drawn to art as a child ChangoBi faced one main obstacle to developing her talents. Her mother couldn’t afford to pay for art lessons. Not one to give into the fickle nature of fate, our heroine fought back and fought back hard. Plunging head first not only into the depths of her artistic nature, but also into the warm, fertile darkness of the New York City subways she began to teach herself to capture life through pencil sketches. Coursing through the veins of the city at forty miles an hour, ChangoBi studied art by observing life underground in the New York City Subway.  She sketched unsuspecting passengers riding alongside her through the womb of the city that never sleeps. Working diligently and steadily towards her goal of developing as an artist, she found herself being reborn beneath the New York streets.

In pursuit of her artistic goals, as an adult, ChangoBi found her way to The Art Students League of New York, an intrinsic part of the New York art scene for over 130 years. It’s there she continues to develop her artistic talents through lectures and classes under the mentorship of Anita Steckel. Ms. Steckel’s guidance has been an invaluable aid to ChangoBi in sharpening and refining her technique. Now, rather than plumbing the depths of the city subway lines, ChangoBi plumbs the depths of her own soul and brings the secrets, sorrows, joys and treasures within out into the world through her art. Over time her work has evolved from her desire to understand life and the world around her into a desire to understand herself. Each of her mixed-media photomontages is an exercise in unraveling and deconstructing her individual essence; while they remain open to the interpretation of the viewer they are also tapestries that help ChangoBi to express the story of who she really is as a Puerto Rican woman and an Artist.

Originally posted in El Boricua--

Experience more of ChangoBi's work at the links below

Luz "ChangoBi" Sanjurjo

Excited by tomorrow. Satisfied with today. Learned by yesterday.

www.ChangoBi.com
www.youtube.com/luzsanjurjo
www.twitter.com/ChangoBi
www.facebook.com/ChangoBi.TheInfamous