Cristi López is a Florida-grown artist, painter, and illustrator based in Chicago. In 2016, she graduated from Ringling College of Art & Design with a BFA in Illustration. She was a Resident Artist (2017–18) and Instructor at Chicago’s Lillstreet Art Center. She has exhibited her artwork across the country and abroad, and her pieces are held in private collections around the world.
López's work chronicles a life-long journey contending with mental health disorders. She uses the human figure as a means of externalizing the covert aspects of mental illness. Amidst the chaos, absurdity, and violence of their situation, the figures remain strong, nurturing, and tranquil. In her intensely personal, allegorical imagery, she aims to remind others struggling that their painful endeavors, in their varied manifestations, are ultimately of hope.
