Meet Oni Gallegos: Artist/Creative

We had the good fortune of connecting with Oni Gallegos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Oni, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
There are so many factors that influence my reasoning in pursuing my creative career. Firstly, the idea of a creative career for me is that in which involves visual, studio arts, as well as event design and coordination. Out of all the questions asked, I chose to answer the one that entails a multitude of ideals I could express to validate my personal decision in pursuing anything artistically. When I state anything, I mean anything and everything. What I have done, and what I have yet to do. The reason I strive to pursue the overall concept of a creative career is that I never want to limit my creativity. I want to compress my life with any opportunity I can to envelope my ambitious ideas. Now there are goals to reach, short term and long term, and there are endless agents of the art world I might never touch. There are days where I don’t create, and days when I can’t stop. This is the reality for me, but shown through a bittersweet, yet beautiful, manifestation that is the art persona I call The Oniverse. I pursue this creative career to challenge my abilities, to attempt projects and to fail miserably, to slow stress and calm anxiety, to learn to accept and love my process, and to produce in an industry that allows me to think big, to create fractures of moments and meanings into a piece of art. The Oniverse allows me to do just this. This persona is a limitless capsule of my ideas, merged into a universe that I want to compact with wild stories, whimsical entities, and furious happiness. To pursue this stylistic of a career is to understand my purpose is sharing all this with the world, or even if it’s only a single person. To be everlasting in this utter happiness I have grown to love for creating artwork for however long I live. 

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Today, I am immersed in my art persona that I call The Oniverse. I find that I am unique as an artist, not because of my selective subjects and colors, but because of the underlying ideals behind my creations. I am most proud of creating this persona that allows me to make endless compilations of my random, scalable, colorful ideas. I am proud of my acceptance in my creative process. Though in reality, I still sometimes persist against my first approach in creating a work of art, there is so much happiness in the questions and doubt. If I never questioned my work, or if my original idea stayed through to the finalized piece, there would be no challenge. Getting to a level of artistry that is confident, yet not yet scaled to where I want it to be, allows me to appreciate the unknown composition of my full creative career. I used to display these sad, angry emotions back when I was in high school. I think everyone has their demons, and that’s why I began to create most of my earlier pieces with dark colors, harsh meanings, and pronounced negativity. Now that I create with an explosion of color, I found that looking back at those earlier works of art, I never truly tried to express the side of immense happiness I host externally. Today, I have been consistent in my efforts to invest heavily in my mentality to bring about the once theoretical happiness into reality. In truth, I want my work to express this significant extent of possible individual growth towards your own happiness, not only in art, but all areas of life. The Oniverse is compiled with a multitude of emotions, all along the spectrum, some complete opposite forces, but that’s exactly what creativity is; accepting the opposite forces we have and combining them to create something beautiful.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Although I was born in California, I moved around a lot. Being a military kid, I was used to new schools and cardboard box forts. I was also commonly aware of the diverse aspects of natural beauty that each new place embellished itself with. If I had a friend come visit, I would of course take them to the night life in downtown San Diego at the Gaslamp; to go dancing, to grab a drink or two at a speakeasy or rooftop bar, and definitely to eat an array of food that only Southern California can provide. I would definitely take them to Juniper and Ivy, a contemporary restaurant near the end streets of Little Italy, as well as the Sugar Factory and the Ghirardelli Chocolate sweet stores! I actually happen to have a mural in downtown at The MOXY hotel! So I would definitely take them there to see it and grab a drink in their millennial styled lobby. If they had never been to Southern California, In-N-Out Burger is always a must, as well as this delicious breakfast place named The Incredible Cafe over by my parents in Poway. Some other places would be Mission Bay. I would definitely rent a jet ski and take my friend out on the bay, as well as stop by Belmont Park to enjoy the loud rides and carnival-like treats! A huge aspect of San Diego that is well loved are the many nature viewing opportunities, especially what were known for: our beaches! As an avid camper and hiker, I would have to say San Diego hosts numerous trails and camping spots, so my hypothetical friend would have to put on their sneakers or swim suit and come enjoy the outdoors for sure! The San Diego Zoo and Safari Park are also a must!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to do nothing else but dedicate this recognition to my boyfriend, Will. For listening to my lengthy art statements, for giving honest feedback on my work, for speaking endless ideas at me, for letting me paint on the walls, and for letting me create a mess of colorful chaos. I love you more than you know!

Website: MyOniverse.com
Instagram: @theoniverse @onimgallegos
Linkedin: Oni Gallegos
Youtube: The Oniverse
Other: Pinterest: @TheOniverse

Image Credits
Red Trolley Studio Photography