About a year ago, I interviewed Muse for the first time over a Zoom call. We spoke about her connection to the elements—their role in her art, performances, and fashion practice—and dressing as form of materializing your soul. It was one of those conversations that makes you love strangers for being so alien. The interview never came to fruition (shoutout media budget cuts,) so when I saw she’d be visiting NYC for the first time in June, I knew I wanted to speak with her again—this time without an .18 ¢ per word framework and with an ocean and body presence she wasn’t used to as a backdrop.
Muse is a Mexican-American performance and visual artist from Chula Vista, California, whose work explores “the human psyche as a vessel through which to understand and accept humanity as a whole.” In February of this year, she held her first gallery exhibition, and released a zine of the same title, “Distorted Thoughts”. She lives in San Diego, near the beach, and water, and the elements are huge symbols in her work. It only felt right for us to speak to each other in the sand, near the shore.
Muse’s work has always stood out to me for the way she styles and manipulates garments to reflect our spirit and emotions. Her upcycling process involves methods like month-long deterioration processes, using the body as a tool for communicating fashion, and creating narratives about the human psyche through clothing and imagery, all while maintaining an air of high fashion by using the resources she has available to her. Since the last time we spoke, I’ve seen her work become more and more experimental, human, and her.
In this interview, I ask Muse about her earthly and spiritual inspirations, the art scene in San Diego, AI in art, and so much more.
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