Ritzy Periwinkle, aka Marisa Estrada, is a Los Angeles designer/artist with deep roots in the urban art and music culture. The name Ritzy Periwinkle, a pseudonym that started among her and her crew, stems from “Maritza” (the way her birth name was originally supposed to be spelled) and the Crayola color, “Periwinkle”. She grew up in San Diego’s border town of South Bay where she describes being on the periphery of the periphery. A first generation Mexican-American, she holds strong ties to her Latina identity. Her relationship to her community, however, is what ultimately shaped her consciousness as a woman of color. The South Bay was a hostile and chaotic environment to which she was constantly in opposition. Her way of countering her troubled situation was to turn to the cultures that spoke of her reality: Hip Hop and Soul. Also disenchanted by mainstream culture’s excess and fictitious portrayal of a content country, Ritzy found that Hip Hop, especially, supplied a dose of truth. Tight beats and poetic lyrics fueled her artistic creativity and became a means of escape from the negativity.

Always on the side of diversity and difference, Ritzy brings this sensibility to her work. Originating as a “floater” among her peers, she continues to float across and in between cultural divisions and categories, never adhering to a single style or static practice. Graduating with an art degree with an emphasis in graphic design from California State University Long Beach allowed her to add a commercial spin to her creativity by entering the corporate world and fusing her art with her love of music. For several years she represented music through the interlacing of artistic graphics, marketing and promotions. Making tight connections with the music community, she found herself still unsatisfied with her artistic progress. Unchallenged and constricted creatively in the corporate world, and inspired by trips to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Oaxaca and Riviera Maya, she left a steady lifestyle to develop her own company specializing in art, design and music in 2006.

With exhibits in art and music hubs such as Los Angeles, Detroit and New York, Ritzy communicates a beautiful energy and respect for her community of women and people of color. Offering photography, illustrations, graphics, collage and a flourishing boutique t-shirt line, Ritzy showcases the underdog of society. However, she compliments her gritty stylistic tendencies with a positive vibe that is attributed to her eclectic influences and unique background. Happily mixing music and art, but to her own beat, Ritzy Periwinkle, counters mainstream creativity by bringing the pure harmony of her work to the audience.