Alyssa is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in self‑expression, healing, and nostalgia. Creative since childhood—starting with bubble lettering and cartoons—she found her main medium in painting during the COVID pandemic. Her bold, emotionally driven style explores mental health, inner dialogue, and the human experience. She shows her work, hosts community‑centered painting events, and studies psychology with plans for social work and art therapy, grounding her practice in healing through creativity.

ARTISMARKED is an expressionist painter who creates whatever God places on his heart. His mission is to help people through art, music, acts of service, and donation.

Courtney has been creating her whole life, focusing on sewing, sculpting, and painting. She’s worked in TV and film and created an award‑winning sculpture for Redbull. In 2022 she became a firefighter, and art has recently become her way to find peace and process the realities of the job. Her work is abstract, textured, whimsical, and organic, usually made without a plan—just going with the flow.

Joseph is a Chicago artist who embraces the weird and grotesque, presenting it all in a jovial light. His work draws heavily from the strange colors of 90s and early‑2000s cartoons, along with a love for the gross and grunge. Art Battle is something he’s wanted to join for a long time, and he’s excited for the chance to finally jump in and experience it.

Josiane discovered her artistic talent a few years ago and has loved creating ever since. She’s excited to share her work and participate in the contest, looking forward to the experience and connecting with fellow artists.

Justin is a Chicago‑based visual artist whose work transforms lived experience, faith, and vision loss into bold, emotional paintings. Diagnosed with keratoconus, he is legally blind and paints through memory, touch, and intuition. Working in live painting, figurative work, and expressive portraiture, he explores resilience, identity, and spiritual awareness, with over 60 exhibitions and events to his name.

Lauran is a local painter based in Wicker Park, Chicago. She’s self‑trained and loves exploring themes like politics, architecture, and plein air. She’s excited for the chance to paint and entertain people.

Matt is a for‑hire live event painter with ten years of experience. He began painting live bands in dark nightclubs and eventually expanded to venues across the country. He has painted at Ironman triathlons, weddings, music festivals, corporate events, college sports stadiums, and more.

Fartingsky/Metzli is an artist from Chicago who mainly works with acrylic and oil paint. She tends to lean towards realistic features in her paintings while also creating pieces that are a pleasure to look at. She works with not only still life, but also portraits and other mediums of art./sf

Saint Ki is a Chicago based multidisciplinary artist focused on summarizing emotional self-reflections, experiences, and nostalgia through storytelling by using his self-taught take on portraiture. Pulling insight from creative luminaries such as Salvador Dali, he merges elements of conceptualism seamlessly into his artistic practice, resulting in a body of work that is as visually striking as it is thematically rich. Whether inspiration is taken from his idols, media or from life itself, each work serves as a visual summary of lived experiences that circle around the main topic of his emotional state and identity.

Samantha is a multidisciplinary artist and full‑time live event and wedding painter whose work is inspired by the whimsical beauty of nature, the human spirit, and the energy of love stories. Her expressive style blends vibrant color, realism, and impressionistic brushwork. She began teaching painting classes at just fourteen and rediscovered her passion for creating in community while instructing at Painting With a Twist during college. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in fibers, she also enjoys knitting in her free time.