Bio: Andrea Ramirez “Mextica” is a community-taught artist who tells stories using acrylic paint, canvas, and really tiny brushes. Her artist name, Mextica, pays homage to her Mexican (Mex) and Costa Rican (Tica) roots as well as her late dad’s brilliance - he came up with the name.

Artist Statement: Andrea Ramirez “Mextica” is a community-taught artist who tells stories using acrylic paint, canvas, and really tiny brushes. Her artist name, Mextica, pays homage to her Mexican (Mex) and Costa Rican (Tica) roots as well as her late dad’s brilliance - he came up with the name.

Inspired by papel amate art of Nahua painters in Mexico, Andrea’s work emulates the same dedication to community, culture, and storytelling. Stylistically, her work adheres to the brown background of papel amate’s bark paper, its colorful details, and a flat, elongated perspective.

The subjects of Andrea’s paintings focus mainly on the daily happenings and familiar locations of her community. Activities such as getting tacos from the neighborhood taquero and locations like Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights makes her pieces relatable and immediately recognizable to her audience. It is very important to Andrea that her audience can see themselves in her paintings; that their memories of being in those locations make the paintings come to life and feel like home.

The attention to detail and use of brilliant colors continue in the pieces representing her Costa Rican side. Her ongoing series, Pura Vida Sarchí, honors Costa Rica’s carretas tipicas, their national art form and UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage winner, and the country’s dedication to environmental conservationism. Continuing with the brown papel amate background, animals and insects are intricately decorated in the typical sarchiseña style preserved since the early 1900’s by artists in the town of Sarchí.

Andrea’s culture and community strongly drives her vision. Each a source of pride, joy, and determination, she paints in their honor, con safos y pura vida.

Comments on work: Burning palo santo, she allows the smoke to caress her face. Holding the handmade copalera, she breathes in its almost sweet and refreshing scent. Under the silent support of the full moon and between the ancestral nourishment of the maíz, she removes negativity, making space for what is to come.