**[Ashley Ravidas](https://www.cohart.com/ashleyaravidas/profile)** creates vibrant, hard-edge paintings that translate feelings into color, shape, and movement. Drawing on geometric abstraction, op art, and abstract expressionism, her work explores the emotional spectrum within structured design. Her series are often inspired by seasons, life transitions, and personal growth.

Ashley uses acrylic paint with pre-mixed gradients, applied methodically using matte medium and tape to achieve crisp, defined lines. Each piece is a labor of love—painted row by row or gradient by gradient—to build compositions that pulse with feeling and motion.

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##### Can you describe your artistic process? What materials and techniques do you typically use?

My work is influenced by emotion, and I channel that emotion into the artwork through color and design. I often work in series or themes that I feel at a particular moment. Once I know the feeling or theme of the series, I work with color and design to create a sense of movement and emotion for the painting. I work in acrylic paint, mixing the gradient colors before starting the artwork to ensure the size and design will fit. As I paint, I go row by row or gradient by gradient with matte medium and tape to create a ridge or “hard-edge” to each line. This type of painting style is typically referred to as hard-edge painting style, but my work could also be described as geometric abstraction, op art, or abstract expressionism.

##### What themes or concepts are you most passionate about exploring in your work?

Since my work focuses on how emotion is expected to be held within specific constraints, each time I work on a series of paintings, I am expressing the emotions I feel at that point in time. Themes that seem to recur include season (winter to spring and joys of summer), as well as more moody emotions such as feeling overwhelmed, and uncertainty grappling with the unknown. 

The feeling also influences the shapes, colors, and designs chosen; something like feeling overwhelmed might be better expressed through a complex optical illusion, whereas a celebration of spring might rely more on the colors associated with spring. 

##### How do your personal experiences influence your art?

My work is definitely a reflection of my life. I felt, both growing up and in my corporate career, that I wasn’t able to express myself except within narrow constraints of what was acceptable. As I grow as an artist and have learned to let out my emotional expression, I find that my work is shifting and taking on more organic shapes, elements, and colors. 

##### Who are some of your biggest artistic influences, and how have they shaped your practice?

There are so many! Contemporary artists with a similar style that I love include Morgan Echols, Kaline Carter, Angela Johal, Andy Lepe, to name a few. Other influences include Ellsworth Kelly, Bridget Riley, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko. I don’t have an art history background, so for many years I didn’t know about this style of art. I found modern geometric, hard-edge, op art painters on Instagram and TikTok and fell in love with what they are doing. I enjoy seeing how we are both similar and different in our styles of work, and feel so inspired by seeing other artists push their boundaries in what they create.  

##### How do you define success as an artist? What does it look like for you?

I’m constantly chasing a new definition of success, it seems like every week, and I expect that’s true for a lot of artists. There isn’t really a roadmap for this type of work so it seems like it’s in flux a lot. I would say some of my most proud moments would include selling my work at art fairs, meeting people who know me from Instagram or TikTok in real life, and partnering with a gallery. Currently, my short-term goals include having a dedicated studio space and participating in an artist residency, but in a more general sense, success is being able to continue doing what I love and making art.

##### Can you share a specific project or piece that holds special significance for you? Why is it important?

One of the pieces that holds special significance for me is my “Rays of Light” painting. It is one of the paintings that represents the turning of seasons from winter to spring and is such a joyful, bright yellow. It is also the first painting I had displayed in a gallery show! 

##### How do you engage with your audience, and what do you hope they take away from your work?

Primarily through social media because of the ability to share and engage with people daily. I love doing in-person events and talking to people who can see the art in full color, but those don’t happen as often. As I share my work, I hope that it brings people a small bright moment in the middle of their feed, and they feel joy and calm while looking at it. 

##### Have you faced any challenges in your artistic career, and how have you overcome them?

Definitely the biggest challenge has been overcoming self-doubt. It’s so easy to look around at other artists and feel not good enough, or like I’m not doing enough. I find that celebrating my milestones and the achievement of each of my goals, no matter how small, has gone a long way in challenging the inner voice of self-doubt. I also think that having community is a really important component; when we doubt, I think partly it’s because we look at others’ highlight reels. By having community, we can lift each other up and cheer each other on, and it takes away the feeling of comparison.

##### In what ways (if any) do you think art can contribute to social change or address current issues in society?

Art is a direct reflection of and response to current events and, in my opinion, there is no separating art from societal issues. While my art often focuses on the individual’s emotion, ultimately, individuals make up the collective. If we all can move from a feeling of scared, anxious, or sad, to a feeling of joy or camaraderie, or empowerment, we take that with us out into the world. It’s contagious either way, and I think art can have a huge impact on how people feel. Joy is a form of resistance. 

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Ashley Ravidas creates vivid abstract paintings shaped by emotion, using bold color, gradients, and geometric precision.

Spotlight: Ashley Ravidas Paints Emotions in Hard Edges

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