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Artist and Activist by Dale Youngman
“I always wanted to be some form of an artist, whether that was a writer, director, photographer, painter, or actor. I took every art class I could in high school and I was in the English AP classes from a young age. I really thought I would be something more practical, like an interior designer or photojournalist, since I grew up poor, and my mom told me only rich people could afford to be artists.”
Born in Norristown, PA. she moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of the Arts, living there for 12 years, before moving to attend graduate school at Arizona State University in Tempe, where she was offered a Regent Scholarship. While in grad school, she met the renowned and influential artist Robbie Conal, who undoubtedly helped shape the direction of Fiorito’s art career, as well as being one reason she chose to move to Los Angeles, where she currently resides. “The day I moved to LA, I went to a show at the Art Center College of Design, and to my surprise, I had a poster in the exhibition! The show was called (S)elections, and it was curated by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. I had given Robbie Conal one of my posters to donate to them and didn’t realize they had chosen it for their show. I had literally pulled into town with all of my belongings an hour or so before the opening.”
Literally being exhibited without her knowledge but nonetheless quietly launching a statement to the art world, her course was set. Los Angeles at the time was becoming known for street art and political art, so Fiorito felt right at home. Soon after arriving in LA, she started a printing business with a friend which they called Hard Pressed Studios. Literally, the artist was hard-pressed to live, with zero money in her bank account when she moved. Fortunately, she got an emergency grant from Change Inc., Robert Rauschenberg’s nonprofit for artists for her first months’ rent. It was very difficult for a while, but soon word spread about the start-up, thanks in part to Robbie Conal, who became their first - and best - customer. “I met Robbie Conal in grad school, when I contacted him as part of my research into street art for my thesis show. We became friends, and he encouraged me to move to LA and start printing for him. Soon I was working for a lot of street artists, some of whom are now international street art stars, including Mear One, Kofie, Chaz Borquez, Buff Monster, Obey, RETNA, and El Mac. Those were the days - when LA felt like a small community. There were not many political street artists in those days, so we all knew and supported each other.”
“I changed the name of our business in 2009, naming it Buddha Cat Press, after my cat Diego who passed that year. (He was the inspiration for my Sacred Beings series as well as my DBA.) I then started printing for museums including LACMA and the Getty. It was on one of these huge jobs (both in scale and quantity) that I ruptured a disc in my lower back. In 2013 I had to stop doing contract work for other artists due to the pain. Shortly thereafter I got married, and my husband convinced me to focus on my own art more and leave the contract work to other print studios. Focusing on her own career path is still a juggling act, as Fiorito is known as a studio artist, installation artist, public artist, and a curator. She specializes in screen printing, wood cuts, linoleum relief cuts, monotypes and photo etching. Always bouncing between multiple projects at a time, she is often working on her fine art prints, her public art billboard projects, and work for various non-profits all in one week. She is also president of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society and has been a board member since 2015. She curates art shows on topics that she perceives are not being talked about or addressed in the art world, offering her curatorial and printing services for free to nonprofits. Although the output is varied, her focus remains consistent with causes and campaigns she cares about. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally and featured in major publications such as Art in America, Hyperallergic, Art Forum and ArtNews and featured in such books as American Women Artists in Wartime, Paper Politics: Socially Engaged Printmaking Today, and The Design of Dissent. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, and Self Help Graphics.
Billboards are an unusual medium for artists, but Fiorito knew it was something she wanted to pursue, and set out to find one as part of her graduate thesis exhibition in 2004. She found an artist and activist named Beatrice Moore in Phoenix who owned a property with a billboard, and inquired if she could use it as a part of her thesis. She had been creating street art, spending hours printing beautiful posters that were being torn down, and was looking for a means of posting that couldn’t be vandalized. The message of that first billboard was political -- and not popular – about the lies from the Bush Administration regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The blow-back from it was sometimes challenging, but that did not deter her from her path. Fiorito’s most famous campaign was the controversial Trumpocalypse/UNITY billboard (Phoenix, AZ) which was installed on March 17, 2017, and remained posted until 2021. It was a protest to the 2016 election and also a call to arms for activists, receiving international media attention and going viral on social media. But the campaign she is most proud of is one that has stood the test of time, continuously running since 2015, called “Got Drought?” This billboard and social media campaign about the relationship between water, pollution, energy, and animal agriculture began in California with 12 billboards in Los Angeles ( still in drought!) before traveling to every major city in California. In 2016, the campaign was posted in Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Fresno and San Diego, continuing to Phoenix, AZ in 2017, with three travelling to Cape Town, South Africa in 2018. This past Spring, Fiorito installed 10 billboards in Los Angeles focusing on Covid-19 and Zoonotic diseases.
We are fortunate that Karen Fiorito did not heed her mother’s advice, as we are all much richer and more mindful due to her artistic path. To view and purchase work by Karen Fiorito please visit her online studio on the OMNI art platform Here! _________________________________ Author Dale Youngman is an independent art curator, fine art dealer, marketing consultant and art writer, working to facilitate the flow of art in Southern California. She currently consults with artists, galleries, interior designers, non-profits, and a new art platform to advance business for everyone in the art world. She has twice been honored by the LA Mayor’s Office with “Certificates of Recognition“ for her many years of art advocacy. Find Dale at her website.
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Karen Fiorito was an unusually perceptive – and perhaps empathic-- child. From a young age she was an activist, passionate about animals and the environment. When she was 8 years old and classmates were playing with dolls, balls, and board games, Fiorito became a member of the Antivivisection Society, Greenpeace, PETA and other non-profit organizations. 
Fiorito is a very active activist, folding her passions into multiple aspects of her work. Often, a cause will inspire a billboard that later becomes a print, which may then be curated into a group show related to one of her favorite topics, combining art, activism, and popular culture. 
“Art can be a powerful tool for change. I believe it is the responsibility of the artist to bear witness to injustice and to hold a mirror to -- and shape -- reality. Art can play a positive role in society by engaging the public and opening dialogue. My art enters the public domain through the use of prints, billboards and murals to educate the public and to create debate and awareness about important issues concerning the future of our planet. A lot of my work involves printmaking. Printmaking has had a long history of being tied to political movements, social justice movements, and revolutions. My work is a continuation of this tradition, as I use my work to explore such themes as women's rights, animal rights, climate change, war, the media, political and environmental issues What inspires me to make art is any kind of injustice that I see, any wrong that I feel needs to be made right. Whether that injustice is perpetrated on a human or nonhuman animal is inconsequential to me. I believe all beings deserve to live without abuse or oppression, period.” 
