We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Raul Gonzo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Raul, so glad you were able to set aside some time for us today. We’ve always admired not just your journey and success, but also the seemingly high levels of self-discipline that you seem to have mastered and so maybe we can start by chatting about how you developed it or where it comes from?
Once I have an idea I become a bit obsessed with seeing it through, and I have a lot of ideas. Like a child on Christmas morning, I wake up rather excited about the day. I don’t know if I’d call it self-discipline or motivation, but the feeling of creating is certainly fuel for me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
In June of this year (2024) I will have my first exhibition at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA. This milestone is still quite hard for me to accept is actually happening.
I was given my first camera as a young child, but as we had little money, the opportunity to take photos and develop them was quite rare. I did take a liking to it though and as I got older I continued to get behind the camera as often as I could.
In 2015, I started my series “Color Madness”. What I had intended on being just a few colorful images has now continued on nine years and hundreds of concepts later, a recognizable signature style of my work. The series is no longer a series, but my brand.
My work often features a stylized female protagonist in a quirky and colorful world. I feel I am heavily inspired by the 50’s, 80’s, old cartoons, Dr. Seuss and generally anything that feels nostalgic and funny to me.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Being motivated is very important and if you aren’t excited about what you’re doing then you might find that it’s hard to get motivated. It’s sometimes easier to do a little bit at a time then to do nothing at all. I also think a lot of creative work I’ve done would be impossible without the help of so many others. I’ve had a lot of people participate in helping with my sets. Asking for help can be hard, but there’s almost always a community of people who just want to help out, especially if you’re both learning something in the process. Find your people!
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
My biggest challenge is connecting with bigger clients to do work on a bigger scale. I think a lot of artist face this. I’d love to work with bigger brands and artists – Looking at you Gucci, MAC, Lego, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Thom Yorke and on and on.
I’m not sure what luck it takes to get to that point, so I just keep working and hope a door will open.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.raulgonzo.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/raulgonzo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/raulgonzo
Image Credits
Models includes: Mosh, Reed, The Regrettes, Katya Mila, Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe, Kimbra, Jacob Collier
