Hello Hello
My work begins with a question: Where do you come from, and how does that place continue to live within you?
I am drawn to the stories that shape identity—heritage, memory, migration, family lore—and how these threads remain visible in the way we move through the world. In my portraits, I explore the quiet negotiations between history and present self, inviting viewers to consider their own origins and the paths that brought them here.
Painting in oil on wood, I use lush, tropical color palettes and fluid, energetic brushwork to evoke the heat, humidity, and vivid emotional landscapes that surround the people I depict. My subjects inhabit a world that is both grounded in reality and softened by imagination: quick strokes suggest movement and vitality, while saturated hues hint at inner worlds shaped by culture, geography, and lived experience. The result is a sensorial space—part memory, part dream.
Influenced by French Impressionism and the lush botanical aesthetics of Palm Beach, my work has been described as “Gauguin with an Instamatic”—a blend of classical painterly devotion and contemporary immediacy. Dense, fecund foliage coexists with crisp white borders that frame each piece, introducing a modernist restraint that heightens the vibrancy within. This tension between wildness and order echoes the dualities of identity itself: past and present, internal and external, rootedness and becoming.
The square format of the series offers a contemporary clarity that allows the paintings to integrate seamlessly into a range of design languages. Yet each piece retains the unmistakable imprint of the hand—mark-making that embraces imperfection, tactility, and the intimate luxury of something made slowly.
Based in Miami, Florida, I have worked as a multimedia artist since 1998, crossing disciplines that include painting, drawing, illustration, fashion design, and tattoo. My work has been exhibited from New York to Hawaii and featured in magazines and books. Across all mediums, my goal remains the same: to honor personal histories—mine and yours—and to give form to the stories we carry.
I welcome commissioned pieces and collaborative projects, continuing the journey of exploring where we have been, who we are, and who we are becoming.
My Story
Ricky has always wanted things to look a certain way. That instinct—part aesthetic precision,
part restless curiosity—has guided him through a life shaped by place, subculture, and a persistent desire to translate experience into image.
Born and raised in Santa Ana, California, Ricky grew up amid the visual languages of Chicano style, beach culture, and Hollywood sleaze. His formative years took him to a visual arts high school in Louisville, Kentucky, where he absorbed the city’s thriving undercurrents of punk, rave, and bohemia. These early environments gave him both edge and openness—an appreciation for beauty that is at once polished and raw.
In his twenties, Ricky set out for New York, a rite of passage for many artists and an education all its own. There he learned to navigate the highs and lows of creative life, and New York remains, in many ways, his spiritual home. Two years living on Maui followed, immersing him in aloha culture and reshaping his understanding of color, pace, and spiritual presence. A multi-year tour through California deepened these explorations, leaving only one regret: not spending more time in Palm Springs. The new decade brought the disorienting era of COVID, and with it a chapter in Dallas, Texas, before ultimately guiding him to Miami.
Now working in Miami, Florida, Ricky continues a multidisciplinary career that began in 1998. His practice spans painting, drawing, illustration, fashion design, and tattoo, revealing a maker equally versed in delicacy and boldness. He has exhibited from New York to Hawaii, appeared in magazines and books, and sold work across a wide range of disciplines. Ricky remains open to commissioned projects, valuing the collaborative energy that comes from translating someone else’s narrative through his own visual language.
For deeper insight into the themes that animate Ricky’s storytelling—memory, belonging, inheritance, and the mysterious ways people become who they are—he recommends listening to the May 30, 2025 episode of The Ezra Klein Show, in which Ezra speaks with Kathryn Schulz. The conversation echoes many of the questions Ricky pursues across his body of work.
Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
718.344.8170
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