We were lucky to catch up with Ricky Terrell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ricky , thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally actually happened two times in my life. The first time was when I was a kid I knew in my heart that I wanted to be an artist. I drew pictures everyday, I drew on my schoolwork and my homework, I remember a time in second grade my teacher made me stop drawing on my spelling tests because I was doing it so much lol. The second time I was an adult and it kept calling me especially during the time I was separating from the military because then I was like well I’m closing this chapter of my life, what’s next? A year later I was moving to New York to chase my creative path and selling my first painting about 6 months into living there made me want to pursue the career of being a Visual Artist full throttle.

Ricky , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For those who aren’t acquainted with me yet, my name is Ricky, I’m from Chicago born and raised on the southside. I got into painting by accident. I knew I wanted to be an artist but I never knew I’d grow up to be a painter because I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was a kid. Someone gifted me with some small tubes of paint shortly after I moved to New York and a lot was happening in my life at the time that was a bit heavy to deal with, so I started painting as a means to get through that. I quickly realized how healing painting had become for me so I took it further and further being more expressive and vulnerable with my work to tell all of these stories of my life without necessarily speaking a word. I later realized and still realize today that so many people resonate with the stories I tell on canvas and for them it’s healing and that to me means a lot.

I really get stumped when I’m asked about my creative work because I create off canvas as well. I consider myself a multidisciplinary artist because I also make and design clothes, hand paint clothes and shoes, furniture, vintage electronics and I do murals as well. I dabble in photography for fun as well. I do some of everything so I hope that answered that question lol.

Through my works on canvas I’ve been able to reach so many people of different backgrounds who all share alot of the same stories. What sets me apart from others isn’t the fact that I tell these stories it’s how my mind conceptualizes how I decide to tell those stories and I’m extremely proud of that.

Anyone who considers themselves a fan of my work, my clients, my customers, my collectors…I want them to all know that everything I creates comes from a real place and I’m happy that they resonate with my work as we all heal and I utilize my craft to heal through my experiences. I also want them to know I’m grateful for the experiences they share with me, the unwavering support, and the amazing conversations that have led to beautiful connections.

I’m most proud of all of the accomplishments I’ve had this year alone living in a new city and that I have collectors from all over the U.S. who are consistent and happy with the art I create, it’s crazy to me when I think about it but I’m grateful for it all.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A story from my journey that illustrates my resilience huh? Whew. Okay here goes…the pandemic happened and the worst of it had passed but I was living in Chicago and everything was still shut down because of Covid. The year after the initial shutdown was devastating because people were getting fired from their jobs and extra money wasn’t available from the stipends they were giving out and my sales dried up. It happened overnight. The engine in my car had just got messed up over a faulty oil change. Everything got real fast. So here I was overthinking and rethinking everything. I didn’t know if things would pick back up and it sent me into a bad space. But…I picked up a paintbrush and painted my way through it. I couldn’t sit in it. Later that same year I moved to another state after things started getting a bit better and although it started off slow, things are much better now and I sell artwork on a consistent basis.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think the particular mission that’s driving my journey is myself. The backstory to my life is pretty wild but painting has helped me grow through and past a lot of it. It’s helped say things I probably won’t say aloud, it gives me a different voice. I found something that helps me cope with the adversity life brings and now that it helps heal other people I couldn’t be happier to be an artist. I truly believe this is what I was called to do and the result of it is the people I meet along this journey who have helped shape where I am now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.abstractedbyricky.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: visualsbyricky / sorryimlatebrand