Chris Cortez is a Mexican artist based in New York City whose large-scale glamorous oil paintings reframe Queer and Trans identity through reclamation and transformation. Drawing from Mexican heritage, childhood memory, and popular iconography, Cortez inserts Queer bodies into visual histories shaped by colonial narratives. Her work engages with femininity as self love, referencing figures such as Selena Quintanilla, Cristina La Veneno, and Zero Suit Samus as sites of divine transformation. Cortez continues the legacy of Queer, Trans, Latina icons going against all odds to live as their glamorous authentic unapologetic selves. Her work celebrates the fluidity of human identity and the collective strength we share in this life.
Cortez received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2022. Recent exhibitions include for love, for art and for being at UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles (2024), Junto at LMCC Art Center on Governors Island, New York (2024), a solo presentation at Scope Art Fair, Miami Beach (2025), and Beyond the Rainbow at The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach (2025). Her work is included in the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. She was a resident at BolsterArts in 2025.