We were lucky to catch up with Raul Rivera recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Raul thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

For me this creative path came out of necessity. Its my way of digesting reality. This is how I see the world and I feel the need to create something every day. I’ve been doing it since very early in life and it has just become an outlet for my emotions and my view of the world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am from Puerto Rico and I served in the military which is how I ended up in Texas. My multiple travels during service served as a personal investigation of color. Everywhere I went on duty, I made it a goal to try the experiment the colors of the different regions and countries I was able to travel to. What I bring to the table, is the result of experiencing color in relation to the landscape during my travels. I always compared the sun light with my memories of Puerto Rico and the way the light hits in the Caribbean. San Antonio has become my home away from home. The color of the city and the warmth of the people has been of great inspiration for me as well. My art comes out of a place of honesty and a lot of experimentation. It is an exercise of reflection and pure celebration of life and nature. What you see in me is an honest artist that lacks of sophistications. My work is my journey that I share so that we can all celebrate beauty. That is part of my intention, and it will always be. My most prouder moment happens when people see my work for the first time. I feel an immediate and genuine connection that happens as they stare at the work. Thats when I say to myself, Mission Accomplished!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that you are usually in the creative space on your own. It’s a safe place to create under your own rules. Nevertheless, somewhere out in the world there will be people who will connect with the work somehow. This validates the theory that we are all connected in many ways, and we get to experience this human connection through our work. That is the magic of art and the beauty of it.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think as a society we are only a reactive force. This only represents a challenge to us who do art. I don’t think we can keep with the pledge to society to support local or otherwise type of artist. The artist is the one that presents the challenge. Society as it is, it’s exactly what represents a source of inspiration for the work. It’s an interesting relationship but we as artist need to do our work to challenge the establishment and present new ways of thinking. this is our role in the social construction of reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: art-by-raulrm.square.site
• Instagram: @art_byraulrivera
• Facebook: Art by Raul Rivera