We recently connected with Chicho Lorenzo and have shared our conversation below.

Chicho, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The main reason I do Art is just because. I’ve been creating all my life, and is my way to process life.
But I’m also on a mission. Is my duty (and everybody else’s) to share my talent, so others have the experience of art through my work. With that, besides live painting or inspiring murals, I dedicate much of my work to education, transmitting enthusiasm and the joy of playful exploration.
My most meaningful projects are in collaboration with children or adults, to remind and get reminded the beauty in everything. Among these, I can choose the mural at the Blue Ridge Children Museum, where I asked the kids to portray themselves either as flowers or bugs, then I copied their designs into a giant pollination garden.

Chicho, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been creating art consistently since my childhood. Defined lines and vibrant colors are usually present in all of it, as is the concept of Mutual Inspiration.
I work on four areas that sometimes overlap: medium size paintings, murals&sculptures, book illustration, and education.
My paintings are either personal explorations about emotions, commissioned portraits, or live-painting, usually around live music.
Public art is a way to get community involved and dreaming together, and make possible the impossible. My murals leave room for people to let themselves in bringing their own dreams. Like in Tribute to Sorolla, where many empty boats invite viewers to navigate on them.
For editorial illustration, I enrich the stories I’m told, adding a visual dimension that, again, still leaves room for imagination.
Education is Transmitting Enthusiasm. I have the gift of easily connecting with people, and what I do at schools, either with murals, workshops or talks, is humbly getting Mutual Inspiration rolling, so everybody gets motivated for enjoying life and themselves, in their own ways.
Love&rhythm

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

When I invite people to draw with me, the most common answer is “I don’t know how to draw”.
Of course my hands are by now trained by technique and experience. But my main achievement is to Be ok with the Process.
People worry about how it looks, about the art looking good or following some beauty standards.
But art needs exploration, playing, absurdness, to be genuine, to take us somewhere and not be just a repetition.
And this can be applied to the way we approach life. We need to dedicate some time to play for the sake of playing, without expecting any results but the immediate joy and its benefits in the rest of our day.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Art is a companion. It listens and tells me stories. I can paint my emotions that I can’t put into words, and get insights from how the painting developed itself. I can paint my wildest dreams and they become real on the canvas. I can share those dreams of colors and shapes, and get inspiration back from the interpretations of the people who sees it. Love&rhythm in and out!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chicho.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/artofchicho?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicho.lorenzo/

Image Credits

1-Mural Boys&Girls Cherry
2-Live paint for Indian Classical Night UVA
3-LOVE sign for Albemarle County
4-Faces2Faces, portrait for The Bridge
5-Live painting Live music
6-Editorial illustration for The Banyan Tree
7-Open Windows mural at Barracks (detail)