Ava Carmen is a Florida native, born to Cuban immigrants and raised in Stuart. After completing an International Baccalaureate program at a multi-cultural high school, she received a BA in History from the University of Florida. Ava began her painting and visual arts studies at the age of sixteen, taking advanced, high-level studio classes—including a workshop at The Armory Art Center taught by Hugh O'Neill. Her paintings have been shown in galleries all over Florida and in Richmond, Virginia. In December 2013 she was a featured artist at SCOPE (Miami Beach) for Art Basel.
Ava draws her inspiration from the fields of beauty, pop culture, literature, humor, and most importantly, imagination. Cultural movements that have influenced her style include the age of enlightenment, surrealism, pop art, and the recent resurgence of realism.