Talisa Almonte’s earliest memories are a blur of color and curiosity. As a toddler in the Dominican Republic, she watched her father hand-draw letters in his graphic design studio, a place filled with caricatures and surreal portraits.
“I always just admired him sort of doing his own thing and being his own boss,” Almonte said.
We’ve featured Almonte as an Epicenter Artist of the Week; this is the story of her building a business that, in many ways, honors her father.
Almonte Studio is a Queens-based business offering bold murals, digital illustrations, and consumer art products that celebrate everything from the 7 train to bodega cats. Her designs have appeared in campaigns for Disney+ and Starbucks — and even on a dress sold at Target.
The origin story
When Almonte was 4, her family moved to Miami. The city’s vibrant art scene planted seeds. Almonte was the kind of kid who drew on everything. But at a competitive high school for design and architecture, Almonte was surrounded by classmates with years of training. “They were having us do these pieces that were like 4 to 5 feet big and it was so intimidating,” she said.
By the time she got to FIT in New York, that first semester was easy because she had already taken a fashion course in high school. Fashion was supposed to be her future. “I watched Project Runway and I was like, ‘New York City!’ It was very cliche,” she said. Almonte worked in the licensing department at Victoria’s Secret before moving into a smaller company and then Gap, building a career in color and design.
She got laid off during the pandemic. Almonte tried freelancing while posting her art on Instagram and collaborating with others. Eventually she accepted a remote job. But after the deaths of her aunt and father, Almonte quit her job. It was tough to work and even tougher to do so in big, bold color.
Everything changed when Almonte was invited to collaborate with The Poster Posse, a global collective that partners with major entertainment studios to create pop culture art. She was selected to design a poster for the Disney+ release of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” A month later, she officially launched her business, naming it Almonte Studio after her father’s design shop in the Dominican Republic.
Building an art business of her own
Almonte’s art is a riot of color and scale: murals, digital illustrations, stickers, and prints. She also sells wholesale products online. Her palette is bold, her compositions playful, and — unlike other artists she knows — she’s never been afraid of color.
Almonte built her early business at local markets, participating in 57 pop-ups just last year. The Queens Night Market became a lifeline, offering some of the most stable income she has made in her business.
“There was this energy where everybody was just so supportive,” she said of those early pandemic days. But as costs rose and pandemic-era support faded, it’s been tough.
Still, “every time that I think to myself, like, ‘Oh, my gosh, maybe I need to try to get a full time job, something always happens,” she said. “I feel like, ‘Okay, well, maybe this is the universe telling me to not quit.”
To weather these periods of turmoil for artists and small business owners, she has shifted her focus to murals and her online shop: “I have to also take care of myself and do what’s gonna be better for me,” she said.
Earlier this month, Almonte finished a mural at the South Street Seaport for the “You’re Not Alone Murals Festival,” a convening of artists and community members to spark conversations around mental health. She’ll soon be painting a garden shed in the Bronx through NYC Parks and the Audubon Society — as long as the weather holds.
In a way, filling public spaces with color has become a way to weather personal storms and help others do the same. It helps her to know, when things are messy and uncertain, that — like her father — she could build something all her own.
“With color, it is very unique and it’s very personal,” she said. “You don’t have to follow a certain rule. You can … really just play around and do whatever feels right to you.”
Follow on Instagram and TikTok at @almontestudio.
Shop her art products here.
Contact Almonte Studio or inquire about commissioning a project here.
