Your Vision – Maria Brito – Ep 35

If you are like me and on any kind of creative journey, I think you understand that this path holds a lot of uncertainty. However, there is an amalgamation of habits, actions, and attitudes that, if utilized, can more quickly progress and embolden our direction. These are needed in the making of anything. It works in art, and it works in business. 

Meet NY-based Maria Brito. She abandoned a high-powered corporate legal profession 13 years ago to build an extraordinary career as an art advisor, curator, and powerful voice in the World of Contemporary Art. Her recent book, How Creativity Rules the World, has fast become the go-to manual for how artists and entrepreneurs can discover and better leverage their creativity to realize their visions. 

Today, the stakes are higher than ever before. We desperately need all the creatives and artists to step forward. To make and share their art more boldly. The question of how best to reframe, rebuild and reimagine our shared future will be answered by the creatives of the World. Fortunately, Maria Brito has stepped forward as a clear, positive voice to this end.

Listen if you are interested in…

• Diving into Maria’s backstory [2:30]
• What drew Maria to the world of art [10:50]
• Marrying aesthetics with a deeper message [13:07]
• The power of contrast and a fresh perspective [20:51]
• Maria’s thoughts on risk in art-making [23:56]
• How creativity rules the world [27:07]
• Creativity as a chain reaction [30:52]
• Maria’s tips for getting to the next level [40:59] 
• The target audience for Maria’s book [46:06]

Create the life you want

Maria Brito was born and raised in Venezuela. She grew up in a family that favored traditional, dependable occupations like law or medicine over the arts. From a young age, Maria wanted to be a singer. She pursued it through her teenage years, but when a music career began to materialize, Maria’s parents discouraged her in lieu of something “more stable”. So she forgot about music and went to Harvard Law where she got her degree and moved to New York City to practice corporate law. 

She felt enormous pride about all she had accomplished after immigrating from Venezuela to the United States, but something was missing. The hours were infinite, the work felt soul-crushing, and she was tired of sleeping with her Blackberry under her pillow! Maria needed to do something that didn’t feel like it was stealing her life away. She turned her focus towards work that was both creative and fulfilling by starting her own art business. Thirteen years later, Maria is living proof that we can create the life we want if we’re willing to do hard things and make hard choices.

Say something

While Maria doesn’t brush paint onto a canvas, her art is all about expression. Words are her primary medium, although editing videos seems to be a close second. As a writer, Maria loves putting her thoughts out into the world. The pen is indeed her paintbrush. Despite being surrounded by talented artists, she’s never had the willingness to stand in front of an easel. Something I admire about Maria is that she’s very content with doing her own thing. She knows what she’s good at and goes after it with everything she’s got. She doesn’t need to drive in someone else’s lane just because she can.

Maria describes the point of art as providing an interpretation of a current moment. When scouting pieces for potential buyers, she notices how an artist interprets their surroundings. Maria is passionate about well-composed and vibrantly colored art that moves her, transports her, and allows her to learn. She doesn’t have time for art with nothing to say and believes the best artists are the ones who marry the aesthetics with what lies underneath the paint. More than what’s visually pleasing on the surface, Maria wants art that captivates our subconscious and teaches us lessons we weren’t even looking for.

Make it your own

Everyone is walking around the planet searching for the next thing that makes them feel alive. People want to wake up! They want to engage with things that change their perspective. That’s how you make art that people will share and remember. But the key ingredient to providing a fresh perspective is making art that is uniquely yours. The more personal your art is, the more unlike anything else it is going to be. That’s how you get someone like Maria to notice your work. Not by being perfect, but by being yourself and allowing the canvas to reflect that.

Maria wants artists to express themselves in a way that brings their own twists and passions to the work. She loves seeing art with new takes on classic ideas, like a reimagined Last Supper. Humans love what is both familiar and different, and Maria gets excited about artists who can combine the two. But it’s not just about the contrast. It’s about finding the place where two seemingly opposite things come together in a meaningful way. Listen to this episode for more insights from my conversation with Maria Brito!

Connect with Maria Brito

• Buy Maria’s book
• Visit Maria’s website 
• Follow Maria on Instagram 

Connect with Nicholas Wilton and Art2Life

Get the Free COLOR TIPS PDF here

• Follow the  Sunday Art2Life Vlog here
• Follow Nicholas Wilton’s Art on Instagram
• Follow Art2Life on Instagram
• Like on Facebook
• Subscribe on Youtube

Subscribe to Art2Life on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts