As the editor of an art magazine, I spend a good chunk of my time going to art shows and meeting artists. After a few years in the scene, things can start to feel stale, particularly when so many artists pull from the same pool of influences, the same vague aspirations of fame and fortune. So, when I meet someone with an original style and different mindset, it’s a refreshing feeling. This was the case with Daphney Estrada.
Born and raised in the Bronx, 24-year old Daphney is an upcoming artist whose work captures the emotive nuances and anxieties of Generation Z. The recent graduate has been an art hobbyist for most of her life, but found a reinvigorated passion for painting during the pandemic. Her canvases mix elements of figurative form and expressionistic color palettes.
In describing her work, Daphney explained, “I like to convey a lot of emotion in my paintings. Very neon vibrant colors, especially around the eyes, which feel like people tend to resonate with.”
“I like to convey a lot of emotion in my paintings. Very neon vibrant colors, especially around the eyes, which feel like people tend to resonate with.”
Though an introvert in earnest, Daphney has ventured into the art scene in the interest of meeting like-minded creatives. We first met during the 2021 SoHo Art Walk. While browsing the event gallery, Daphney was one of the few faces in the crowd I didn’t recognize. Always interested by strangers, I struck up a conversation and we mostly talked about our mutual love for the band System of A Down. After the customary Instagram exchange, I later found myself scrolling through her page and was impressed with her small, though growing, body of work. Notably, I was drawn to her interpretative faces.
“I always had a certain affinity for it,” Daphney explained when talking about her art. “I’ve always found it interesting, and I would find myself doodling from time to time.”
She pursued a degree in criminal justice college at SUNY Fredonia. Growing up in the Bronx, she was intimately familiar with the scarcity of resources available to certain communities, and she wanted to go into social work to help people. Although not her stated focus at the time, Daphney met a lot of artistically-minded individuals in college, which helped spark her creative fire.
In the past few years, she’s taken to posting her sketches on Instagram, and gotten a lot of positive feedback from friends. “People acknowledged these doodles and they seemed to resonate with the things I drew.” Prone to daydreaming, doodling became a natural outlet to convey the thoughts racing through her mind, as does painting.
“One of the reasons I got into art was because I feel like I’ve never been good with expressing myself verbally. I tend to stumble on my words, get lost on finding the correct word to describe how I’m feeling and all that. Once I started to get into painting, I realized that a lot of my emotions and thoughts were there on the canvas, as I’m painting them, subconsciously or not,” she said, with introspective reflection.
“One of the reasons I got into art was because I feel like I’ve never been good with expressing myself verbally. I tend to stumble on my words, get lost on finding the correct word to describe how I’m feeling and all that. Once I started to get into painting, I realized that a lot of my emotions and thoughts were there on the canvas, as I’m painting them, subconsciously or not.”
Through her life, Daphney’s experimented with a few mediums including clay sculptures, though she’s drawn to a few favorites such as chalk pastels. With painting, her influences pull from classic art curriculum, most heavily Van Gogh’s impressionism, and as a product of her generation, she’s drawn to modern mediums like animation and finding inspiration on TilTok. “I would encompass a lot of these different styles and try my best to replicate them. Eventually, as I did my own research, and explored with different mediums and textures, I started to find my style.”
Working her way through college, Daphney was a Starbucks barista, where she occasionally had the chance to employ her creative side. She was commissioned to paint a few seasonal window murals, like her favorite, Halloween. Starbucks influenced her art in other ways as well. When I asked why she paints faces, she sarcastically replied, “dealing with people.” On a more serious note, she added. “During the pandemic in particular, I was thinking about eyes, and how you can read a lot of emotion in someone’s eyes.”
On a more serious note, she added. “During the pandemic in particular, I was thinking about eyes, and how you can read a lot of emotion in someone’s eyes.”
Later that Summer, when curating a show for the Loft Projects in Chappaqua (formerly known as The Art Closet), I sent an invite to Daphney to submit a canvas. Though I still didn’t know her well, I wanted to feature a few fresh faces. Her submission was a countenance depicted in two variants, one pensive and the other hopeful, painted in black and silver with gold highlights. The piece ended up as one my favorites, and soon after I added it to my collection.
At the Chappaqua show, I was also impressed when she brought with her a solid crowd of friends. It speaks to one’s character that they can stock a show with a few good supporters. Particularly given the show was upstate, not everyone would be down to make the trek.
Her ability to pull a crowd and her creative knack were a few of the reasons I invited Daphney to participate in the 2022 season opener of the NYC Art League, an art tournament I help produce at Sour Mouse. By this point, we’d become closer friends, and knowing her I didn’t think she’d be down to live-paint in front a crowd. Among the matters we bonded over, one was social anxiety. Still, she teamed up with our friend Paolo Tolentino and stepped into the ring to give it a shot.
Laughing, Daphney recalled the experience. “That was terrifying. Wow. I was frantic, anxious as soon as I got there. I thought that once I finally got into it, the anxiety would dissipate. It didn’t, but I feel like I was able to channel the anxiety into a way that helped me concentrate more. It definitely helps to not turn back and look at the crowd. But,” she continued, “all in all, it was really fun and I’m really happy that I got out of my comfort zone. That’s definitely steps above – it’s something I never thought I’d be able to do.”
“I was frantic, anxious as soon as I got there. I thought that once I finally got into it, the anxiety would dissipate. It didn’t, but I feel like I was able to channel the anxiety into a way that helped me concentrate more.”
Having the courage to combat your own insecurities is one of the greatest challenges an artist faces. While Daphney didn’t win the match, her canvas with Paolo was a crowd favorite. The theme for the night was ‘90s video games,’ and their piece featured a Nintendo 64 and the pink ball of hunger, Kirby. “One of my favorite parts of the experience was when people detailed different aspects of my work that they liked.”
“I’m someone who doesn’t take criticism very well.” Daphney elaborated, “Not that anyone has particularly critiqued my pieces on a negative way, but I’m always very conscientious of whether or not people understand what I’m trying to convey. It’s motivating when people see the effort, I’m putting into it.”
As a friend and a peer, I’ve had the pleasure of watching Daphney carve out a niche for herself in her rookie season. Recently she graduated college, and in the post-pandemic world, she’s still deciding on her next moves. “Honestly, as of right now, I’m not completely sure about the direction I want to go into. For now, I would just like to continue meeting people in the scene. Just continue perfecting my craft. Try to find different styles and mediums to work with.” She paused, “I just want to focus on the baby steps for now.”
“I’m someone who experiences a lot of intense emotions. It just makes me happy to know that people see my pieces and find them relatable, that they can resonate with what I’m painting because even though there’s no words written there. I feel like I’m very transparent on the canvas.”
Most artists when I meet them in the scene tend to talk themselves up, and declare how quickly they want to get famous. One of the traits I admire about Daphney is the self-recognition that good things take time, and it’s better to invest in yourself and let your passion grow organically. Building an audience is a matter of connecting.
“I’m someone who experiences a lot of intense emotions. It just makes me happy to know that people see my pieces and find them relatable, that they can resonate with what I’m painting because even though there’s no words written there. I feel like I’m very transparent on the canvas.”
