Ashley Longshore was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She is the daughter of an ad salesman and studied ballet, jazz, voice and piano as a child. She majored in English Literature at the University of Montana. Longshore is self taught and decided to take her painting, sculpture, and design talent and opened a studio on Magazine Street in New Orleans. She developed a following on Instagram, but not liking the way one pays galleries to show work, she took an alternative route. Not a Gallery Girl, for anyone who watched the reality show. Ashley decided to move to NYC and made her debut with “Sugar Face” which was shown at Boîte à Epice in Chelsea, NY.. downtown. The area where street murals and graffiti art is de rigeur. One revels in walls showing street life, pop icons and history. The NY Times has dubbed her, the feminist Andy Warhol.
By 2011, Longshore had made her entrance into the art world scene. She did a series of paintings entitled: “Greed, Money and Status”. There is a painting of Gordon Gekko, the character played by Micheal Douglas in the movie; Wall Street. A painting of the hungry real estate agents in Chicago, the play by Glengarry Glenross. Ashley Longshore designed a chair which was stuffed with $500,000 of symbolic money. Chairs are another piece of work she is known for creating. She designs contemporary armchairs with painted trims in bright colors and velvet fabrics with images such as; Frida Kahlo on the back. Longshore did a series, Fashionably Late. As well as a collaboration for French fashion company, Chloe, which was at Art Basel in Miami. Maybelline cosmetics had her paint graphic designs for a lipstick tube collection. Blake Lively, Penelope Cruz and other celebs buy her works. Blake Lively and Ashley Longshore worked on design for Lively’s Preserve site about southern life. Blake Lively collects many of her paintings and features them on her own Instagram. In 2011, Longshore provided fabric prints for a Project Runway, Season 18, contest. The contestant who used a butterfly print pattern, won. She later appeared as a Runway judge. Longshore has been featured in; Elle Decor, Forbes, Marie Claire Belgium, SPUR and Vogue. Ashley likes sparkles and glitter and uses these elements. She worked with bag designer Judith Leiber on an AL X JL sparkly 14,000 crystal bag collaboration. One of her well known slogans; ” I do not cook, I do not clean and I do not fly commercial”. A lot of the work is painting, but sculptures of gold bars and cake designs with inscriptions saying; “Can I Puke On Your Birkin”are popular. She plays on commercialism and fashion as a way of expression. She is even featured in the 2011 film: Twilight Breakdown.
Longshore is the first female artist to have her work on display at Bergdorf Goodman’s. Homeware, scarves, pillows, paintings and furniture are all creations in which she prides herself. Longshore has written two books, one; My Rizzoli Coffee Table Book and You Do Not Look Fat, You Look Crazy. Soho, The Hampton’s and Palm Beach fashion boutiques, Kirna Zabete, had 20 of Longshore’s pieces for Christmas called: Jingle My Bells. During International Women’s Month, in February, 2019, Longshore had paintings of female figures at Diane Von Fustenberg’s flagship store gallery. Some of the paintings are; Maya Angelou, Audery Hepburn, Greta Thurnberg, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Diane Von Furstenberg, Princess Diana, Gloria Steinem, Malala Yousfei and Marlene Dietrich. These portraits gave DVF’s #InCharge and Be The Woman You Want to Be, a visual perspective on influential females, She is going to have an upcoming painted butterfly display at Brookfield Place’s Art Exhibition which will show the beauty of nature in troubling times. The AL Charitable Foundation provides three scholarships for young artists, one in memory of photographer, Alix Martinex, one in memory of Patrick B. Hale, a theatrical performer, and a third for a female artist who is underrepresented as a minority or is from a vulnerable community. Longshore has a non profit with Miley Cyrus called The Happy Hippie. It auctions off work from artists in the LGBT, youth and homeless populations. Ashley Longshore is on the go, following her passions and creative drive.
The Cosmopolitan Compact 