Rich Gimenez Interview | Respect the Artist
This interview was curated by START Shows
Introduce yourself
An artist who sees art as something without rules and believes that much of what comes from the streets should be far more valued than it actually is.
How did you get your Artist name?
It’s my nickname.
How did you get into creating?
My artistic creation was basically born on the streets of São Paulo, and through a few trips I began my professional career as an artist and painter. In 2017, I traveled to New York, where I met some artists. I was already drawing, doing graffiti, and creating pop art characters. So my creative foundation was formed between two major capitals: São Paulo, the largest city in Latin America, and that trip I took to New York in 2017. I believe that was when everything came together. It blended what I truly wanted to express in my art without becoming excessive. I found a balance between pop art, urban art, and a bit of graffiti.
Where are you from?
São Paulo Brazil
How did growing up in your neighborhood/city affect you?
The city of São Paulo basically created its own style, known as pixo or pixação. It is a style, just like graffiti or any other, and like every large city, it is a movement you see every day. I saw it constantly in the neighborhood where I was born, Vila Mariana in São Paulo, and in all the surrounding areas. So São Paulo truly breathes graffiti and pixação. And of course all the pop art characters, comic books, and superhero stories also inspired me. That is what motivated me to start mixing all of this and bringing it into my work, onto canvas, into sculptures, and into my exhibitions
What did you do to advance your skills/knowledge?
I developed my skills mainly through hands-on practice, starting on the streets of São Paulo with graffiti and drawing. I studied other artists, pop art, comics, and urban culture, and in 2017 I traveled to New York to connect with artists and expand my perspective. Since then I have refined my technique through continuous painting, sculpture, exhibitions, and experimentation.
What does your current setup look like?
I currently work in a studio with canvases, wooden panels, and sculptural materials. I use spray paint, acrylics, airbrush, stencils, and mixed media. My setup allows me to create large expressive pieces as well as detailed finishes for exhibitions and collectors.
Who inspires you?
Eduardo Kobra, Os Gemeos, Scope, Cope, Seen and Alec
What is your goal when you create?
My goal is to create an artwork that carries everything I have lived and seen, and that harmonizes with the idea I originally had so people can truly understand it. I do not believe in over-explaining art. An artwork needs to speak for itself. When someone has to explain a piece too much, it usually means it did not fully communicate what it was meant to. For me, the artwork must stand on its own and communicate directly with the viewer
Why do you create?
I actually prefer to say why I paint. I paint because my mind is very restless. I have many ideas and projects, I have more than ten future series written in my notebooks for upcoming exhibitions and concepts. I am naturally very anxious, which is why I avoid murals and prefer canvas, because when I start something I need to finish it. Most of my works take no more than two or three days in the studio. I create because this is inside me and I need to express it somehow. I need to put it into the world and let people see it. And of course, this also has value.
How has choosing your creative path affected your life?
I come from a country where becoming a visual artist, especially an urban artist, is not socially encouraged unless you come from a very wealthy family. Culturally, Brazil does not strongly support new artists, particularly in urban art. Very few artists are financially successful there. So choosing to live from art in Brazil is a major challenge.
Even so, since 2018 I have been able to build an international career, exhibiting in cities like Dubai, New York and Miami during Art Basel Week, receiving awards, and having my work collected by internationally known figures. This path has taught me discipline, resilience, and independence. I believe that artistic freedom only truly exists when creativity and financial sustainability are aligned, so that you are free to create what you want, not only what is easy to sell.
Did you have to overcome any obstacles along the way?
I cannot deny that I came from a family with relatively good conditions by Brazilian standards. I had support to study, I even lived in the United States for a while trying to become a professional soccer player. But when I decided to become an entrepreneur and follow my own artistic path in 2017, I was truly on my own, and the beginning was very difficult.
I started painting in my parents’ garage. Through personal connections and friends I slowly began introducing my work, and little by little things started to grow. Then the pandemic came, which was a very sad moment for the world, but for my work it became a turning point. While people were at home, I was very active on social media, especially Instagram, and demand grew quickly. There were periods when we worked 14 to 16 hours a day, painting and shipping constantly to keep up with orders.
We built everything from zero. In the first year our Instagram grew from about two or three thousand followers to more than seventy thousand. After that I was able to rent a small studio and invest back into the business. There was no government support, no sponsors, no investors, everything was done by ourselves.
I do not really like the term ‘self-made,’ because nobody builds something alone. But we did build our gallery, Frame Art Brasil, independently. It is my name, my work, and my responsibility. And doing that in a country where art is not always culturally valued, and where attention is often focused on sports, entertainment, and quick money, made the path more challenging, but also more meaningful.
What's your go-to song right now and why is it important to you?
The song I have been listening to lately and paying more attention to the lyrics is ‘DTMF’ by Bad Bunny. It reminds me that I do not want to waste any time in my life. I do not want to miss moments without capturing them, enjoying them, or fully living them. Life is very short and passes very fast, and this song talks about that. About taking more photos, making more memories, connecting with more people, and truly living while you can.
What is your dream as an artist and what steps are you taking to reach your dream?
My dream as an artist is to have my own permanent galleries in Miami and New York, and to move to Florida. I also want to maintain a gallery in São Paulo, because I believe this is where everything began. I do not want to forget my origins. I love my country and my city, and São Paulo will always be my foundation.
The steps I am taking are financial, legal, and strategic. I am structuring my business properly, learning more about the American art market, and building relationships in the international art scene. Since 2019 I have been following Art Basel, other art fairs, exhibitions, galleries, and gallerists closely. I am also improving my English and strengthening my professional network. I am preparing carefully for this transition because I truly believe in the American art market and its connection to contemporary and urban art.
What would you tell someone else with a dream?
I believe that dreams are what move the person inside you. But how fast you reach them depends on how thirsty you are for them. I have met people who had many advantages and people who had very little, and sometimes the ones with the greatest talent were not the ones who moved forward, because they were not obsessed enough, they were not hungry enough.
I learned that obsession, discipline, and hunger to grow often go further than talent alone. There was a time in my life when it was less about perfecting technique and more about learning, about asking ‘how can I do this?’ instead of waiting to be ready. Today I feel more specialized and refined, but back then it was a time of hunger.
Everything starts with a dream. I still dream today. Ten years ago I dreamed about the life I am living now, my work, my exhibitions, my home, and everything I have built. All of it once existed only as a dream. So my advice is simple: never stop dreaming. Dreams are the beginning of everything. They are the first door.
Tell us about your most recent release
My most recent series is called Sweet Icons. It features iconic women that we recently presented during Art Basel Week at Red Dot Miami 2025. The concept is to portray female icons with a sensual but not vulgar presence, combined with a sense of childhood through candy elements like colorful lollipops.
Each artwork is a canvas featuring the face of a female icon such as Gisele Bündchen, Audrey Hepburn, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Marilyn Monroe, and others. Only the face is colored, using stripes and geometric shapes, while the rest remains more neutral.
At the end of the process, we add small muralist figures, tiny artists painted into the composition, as if they were hanging from the canvas and working on the large face, as if the Sweet Icon itself were a mural being created in real time. This creates a contrast between scale, intimacy, and spectacle.
It is a very special and meaningful series for me, and it is the body of work I want to present next in New York.
Share a link to your most recent release:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSSS5U_jb4U/?igsh=MWhlNXV4OWtqY2szeQ==
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/frameartbrasil
Website: http://www.instagram.com/frameartbrasil
Photography credit: @jeancabral
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