Meet The Artist Who Created The Festival Image For GFA 54.

"Ride Your Way," Gasparilla Festival of the Arts 2024 Featured image by Karina Llergo.
Ride Your Way by Karina Llergo is the official Festival Image for the 54th Annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

The Gasparilla Festival of the Arts (GFA) announced the selection of the Festival Image which will be used to promote the 54th Annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts. Entitled Ride Your Way by Karina Llergo, the image is an excellent example of the quality of art on display by our 230+ main show artists and 15 emerging artists on March 2-3, 2024 at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park in downtown Tampa.

Karina Llergo was born and raised in Mexico City where she received her bachelor’s degree in graphic design as well as advanced degrees in multimedia, animation, and abstract art. She studied with famed Mexican artist Roberto Cortazar and portraitist Enrique Estrada, who both saw her talent and strongly encouraged her to continue her artistic journey.

While keeping art at the forefront of her mind and heart, Karina enjoyed a highly successful corporate career as art director for Mexico City’s top newspaper Reforma and at illustrious advertising agency McCann Erickson. Among the many campaigns she helped create some of her most memorable were for clients such as Coca-Cola, Revlon, and Kimberly Clark.

Throughout her professional life, Karina painted and worked tirelessly to develop her unique style. As a lifelong dancer, competitive swimmer and avid skydiver, she found herself drawn to depicting on canvas the palpable energy of the human body in motion. Driven by these fascinations and armed with her talent for figurative painting, Karina found a way to translate her observations and creative imagination into thought-provoking paintings of breathtaking beauty.

Since moving to Chicago in 2007 and transitioning to art full time, Karina’s work has received high praise and she is greatly admired throughout the vibrant Chicagoland art world. Among her many accolades, Karina has received numerous Outstanding Achievement and Best In Show awards at distinguished art shows all over Chicagoland and exhibits in galleries throughout the United States.

Artist Karina Llergo.

Of Mexican, Armenian, and Spanish descent, Karina’s diverse background influences her life in every way, as does her insatiable passion for the creative arts. She is a highly decorated artists with many awards earned, including 2022 Best of Category at the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival in Hinsdale, Illinois and 2021 Best of Category in the Gold Coast Art Fair in Chicago.

“The significance of having my painting selected for the Festival holds great personal and artistic value for me. Ride Your Way is a piece of my soul, and having it chosen creates a deep emotional connection,” said Llergo. “It’s a moment of celebration and inspires me to continue pushing boundaries by exploring new facets of my artistic practice.”

Llergo is no stranger to GFA. She has been part of the main show for the last three years and feels it is one of the top shows she’s participated in. She credits GFA’s commitment to promoting and showcasing diverse art, exemplary organization, outstanding award recognitions, and community engagement as what sets GFA apart. She anticipates being a part of GFA for years to come.

As a lifelong dancer, Llergo has always been drawn to artwork that features movement and the human form.

“I continually seek fresh ways to capture the magic of energy through motion of the human body,” said Llergo. “I turn figures into fluid entities. I weave dance, air, and water, into my paintings to create another unworldly likeness.”

Ride Your Way will be featured on all promotional materials, ad campaigns, and merchandise that will be available at the 54th Annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.

 

 

Blanket Approval

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The Savants

The Savants are a nine piece southern soul group from Gainesville, FL. They perform original soul music inspired by the Muscle Shoals Sound as well as the iconic and legendary music that came out of labels like Stax Records and Atlantic Records during the 1960s & 1970s.

Formed in 2011 in Gainesville, FL, the group has undergone several personal changes over the years but settled into its current lineup around 2020.

The band has made its presence felt around the southeast, notably playing Red Gorilla at SXSW in 2017, Suwannee Hulaween in 2016 and Changeville in its hometown in 2018 and 2016. Along the way they have been featured alongside groups such as; Gary Clark Jr., Durand Jones and the Indications, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Kendra Morris, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinares, George Porter Jr of the Meters, The Original Wailers, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Postmodern Jukebox and more.

TV Breakup Scene

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Mia Marlene

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Mia Marlene’s music is anchored in her many experiences living in London, Copenhagen, Colorado, and Washington D.C.; places that shaped her sonic vision and imprinted onto her the wealth of the human experience, and how all of these experiences can serve as creative fuel for songwriting and music-making.

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 Since releasing PEOPLE PERSON, their debut EP, the band has been turning heads and moving feet. With over 50,000 fans following along online, PRIZILLA has earned a reputation for live shows that are part concert, part catharsis, and entirely unmissable.

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He formed His first Music group at the Age of 10 and was doing secular music.

When He was 13 he fled his home country and went to a Refugee camp due to war, He lived there for 10 years and then immigrated to the USA in 2016, though He has been writing for a while Mk Blessed released His first single on Dec,  4 2021 entitled Faithful God.

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Native to Caguas, PR, Fabiola began playing the cuatro, Puerto Rico’s national instrument, at the age of six. She got her early music trainings at the Antonio Paoli School of Music in Caguas and her Bachelor’s in Music from Berklee College of Music, where in 2018 she made history as the first graduate to play the Puerto Rican cuatro as principal instrument.

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