Creating the alchemy of color and mystery
“My artistic path has been a path towards self-empowerment. It’s a never ending road towards self-discovery. For me, it’s been a deeply spiritual path that has taught me so much about life, and about myself. It taught me a lot about self-reliance and responsibility. I’ve learned to look at my own life as a blank canvas, and treat it as if it was a work of art. I am the one who chooses colors and concepts, and I know that whatever I do, I’ll love the result.”
— Creativity takes courage, Interview with Uslada published by Goddess Arts Magazine
About Uslada
Uslada is a visual artist who taps into the flow of life to create her paintings, sensual and exuberant. Her artistic style is a truly unique blend of color, texture and intricate shapes which portray the magnificence of the Universe, and the beauty of all of us in it. Her other artistic medium is poems that are sometimes born to accompany the themes she portrays in her paintings.
Even though Uslada’s life has always been filled with creativity, her artistic talents were revealed to her in what she calls a mysteriously graceful act of the Universe. This happened in the spring of 2011, and since then, art has been a powerful force that set her on the path of self-discovery. Just one year after starting to paint, she had her first solo show in Brussels. And only several months after that, an important encounter with philosopher Marcel Paquet took place. Marcel Paquet was a Belgian philosopher and art writer who knew personally and wrote about such powerhouses of the art world as Magritte, Botero, Calder, Mirò, Paul Delvaux and others. After a serendipitous encounter with Uslada, he supported her in her work until his death in 2014, and dedicated one of his last essays to her art.
Uslada finds her inspiration in a large array of things. Her source of creativity is the beauty and sacredness of nature and its astonishing colors - both the quiet palette she grew up surrounded by during her childhood near the Baltic Sea, as well as exotic warmth of vibrant colors she encounters during her travels to faraway lands. She is also inspired by a large spectrum of different art styles, forms and techniques, including Asian filigree, Venetian glass work, chern (чернь) and gold that are wide-spread in Russian art, to name a few.
Uslada has exhibited her art in solo shows, as well as together with other artists. She was part of the Belgian prime-time TV show C’est du belge during which she explored nude female body as sacred canvas for her art in a collaborative project with photographer Eric Ceccarini. Her paintings are part of private collections of customers from France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium, Venezuela, Philippines and the United States.
Uslada was born in Latvia and lives in Belgium. The artist was known during the earlier part of her career up to 2019 as Foxi Von Riga
To learn more about Uslada’s philosophy and sources of inspiration, read interviews with her, and follow her on Instagram.
"My main source of inspiration is nature - oceans, forests and plants that surround us - and also our human nature, our existence on planet Earth, which goes far beyond the materialistic perceptions of what’s visible to the eye. I believe that it’s only by accepting the sacredness, wisdom and consciousness of nature that we will accept our own sacred place within it. And it is only when we fully embrace our human nature, and accept who we truly are, that we will be able to treat our Planet and approach life with deep respect and reverence.”
— Uslada