Scarlett Baily is a Chicana muralist, painter, and illustrator who studied art in Mexico City and San Diego, California. Her work explores and celebrates traditions and popular culture, easily recognized by its minimalist gestures and long, wavy lines with splashes of color. Through Mezcal Verde, Baily conveys her vision of humanity as warriors with ancestral power in a contemporary life.
MEZCAL VERDE: How did your interest in art begin?
SCARLETT BAILY: I was born in El Paso, Texas and raised in San Diego, CA to a Mexican family. These borderlands are filled with murals of Chicano heroes, Aztec legends, and amazing graffiti. As a child I loved admiring them from the window of my car and started copying them into my folders. I dreamed of one day becoming a muralist to share my art with the public in a monumental way.
MV: How did your project as Scarlett Baily begin?
SB: Opening an art studio has been a dream of mine since I was a child. It was all a result of following my heart, jumping into the unknown, taking risks, experimenting, and sharing my art with the public without asking permission. My studio was born in New York, in the Bed–Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, in 2010. There I began making series of life-size portraits of my friends. I was dying to exhibit them! Without a gallery to represent me, I took to the streets! Before, I would cut out illustrations and paste them on abandoned walls, creating huge collage installations . While preparing for an urban art installation for Bushwick Open Studios, the art directors of DKNY discovered me. They took my art as a theme for the season’s windows, and invited me to paint live portraits in the window. In 2014, I was invited by the curators of Salón Acme to do a residency in Mexico. I spent an unforgettable week photographing artists, musicians, chefs, designers, etc. And most of all, I finally felt connected to my Mexican roots. A few months later I decided to expand my studio to Mexico City.
MV: What is the part of your job that you enjoy most?
SB: I have always been very observant with a taste for sharing stories. Art tells stories and opens doors to many worlds. One day I am painting at the Central de Abastos, another at Palacio de Hierro or Madison Avenue. I love the bridges that art builds. Art is universal, it empowers, it celebrates, and it creates empathy between distant communities. I love having this position as an artist. What I like most are my portrait sessions; it is an intimate exchange, with a stranger, and they always relax and confess their love stories, their dreams, etc. Each person I draw ends up being a friend. And of course, what excites me most is painting murals. It is a discipline by and for the public, and it is an adrenaline rush to create on this scale in the street. When my art has this audience, it takes on an extraordinary life.
MV: What techniques do you use and why?
SB: I have explored all the techniques, each one has its seasons for me, but I have always been faithful to painting. I like mixing inks, the sound of the brush touching the surface, the sensation of creating a brushstroke transports me to another dimension and I feel like I am leaving a mark on the world. In my personal work I use a lot of oils while for public art, I lean more towards acrylic, spray, and wheatpaste. For me the most important thing is to be able to work quickly to give the work a current energy, with dynamism and movement. The graphic immediacy of my style invites any viewer to participate and celebrate the themes of heritage, tradition, and belonging in my work.
MV: What is the narrative of your work?
SB: In this age of globalization, I believe it is essential to seek out and celebrate our roots. The nuances of our culture are the things that make us unique and special, and we cannot let them be erased by modernity. Art can dismantle racism and end discrimination. I am multicultural, and I always felt a polarity pushing me to choose between one culture or the other instead of embracing both. So, my murals insert diverse narratives into the canon. Through my work I am able to address the frameworks that have kept artists like me in the shadows and affirm that there is room for everyone. I seek to impact a more inclusive art world, inviting the public to see muralism as more than just decoration and as an essential platform to speak out. Furthermore, muralism allows aspiring artists of all backgrounds to thrive and communicate their narratives publicly on a large scale.
MV: Even though it is not an original piece for VERDE, what is the inspiration behind the label chosen for Mezcal VERDE?
SB: Investigating Mexican mythology, I found many figures of powerful women. I fell in love with Coatlicue. She is a Goddess who generates fear, but at the same time empowers. She is tender and terrifying. She represents duality. She is the mother of everything that is born from the earth, the goddess of fertility, or in other words, abundance, power or creativity. I wanted to give her life outside the Anthropology Museum and integrate her into our contemporary life, because her power lives within us. We are warriors! I feel that by taking up her image, our ancestral power awakens and illuminates the magic that we carry within.
