Chris Cortez (b. 2000) is a Mexican artist based in New York City whose life-sized 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 her BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2022. Recent exhibitions include Beyond the Rainbow  at The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach (2025); for love, for art and for being at UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles  (2024); and Junto at LMCC Art Center, New York (2024). In 2025, she presented a solo booth at SCOPE Art  Show, Miami Beach, and participated in the BolsterArts residency program. Her work is held in the Beth Rudin  DeWoody Collection, among others, and has recently been featured in Cultured Magazine and A Women’s  Thing. Cortez has been selected to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in summer 2026.