Kiki Castel Landon

As a child growing up in a working-class family in the South of France, Kiki Castel Landon (aka Kiki Collagist) was encouraged to use her imagination. This was how she began to piece together odd things, to take one object and re-imagine it as something different. And while she might not have always appreciated the usefulness of this ability as a child, this skill would come to define her career as an artist. “It took me years to have the confidence to believe I truly had something worth saying,” she admits. “I didn’t go to any fine art schools and I feared criticism. However, much like being out, there is a peace and freedom that comes with claiming your authentic self.” Her 1 million-plus Instagram likes prove that what she has to say is worth saying. After moving to Los Angeles, she landed an internship at the BG Gallery in Santa Monica; her work was noticed by curator Om Bleicher, who began featuring it in the Los Angeles gallery. Later, she was asked to present her work at the prestigious Los Angeles Art Show. A devoted Surrealist, she is drawn to the movement by its inherent similarities to college. “For me,” she says, “Surrealism is actually a way to express a richer, more complex and truthful depiction of reality—putting together two or more seemingly unrelated things and exposing the interconnectivity of all things.” —RK