Meet Rick Therrio

We recently connected with Rick Therrio and have shared our conversation below.

Rick, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

All my life I have enjoyed the work of men & women I thought were brilliant. I mean really deep down, just blown away and impressed by excellent work. It finally occurred to me that this was the very basis of the reason for existence. To enjoy and be inspired by powerful and beautiful work. Be it film, literature, art, acting, anything that creates that incredible sensation. And my next thought was that I wanted other people to possibly feel that way about MY work, as I labored to add my bits on to the pile.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I retired in 2012. Since then, I’ve been able to make art everyday. I’m partial to surrealism and the unusual. My heroes are Bosch, Dali, Guston, Bacon and many, many more. I’ve done drawings, paintings, sculptures, instillations, comics, made music with friends, and participated in countless art exhibits. I’ve directed a couple films and self published two books starring my character ‘The Old Fat Detective’. My most recent book which just came out this month is called ‘The Elongated Skull’. My favorite part of these endeavors is being able to collaborate with my friends.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think the desire to make each piece better than the last one is super important. It helps greatly to open yourself up to as much of other peoples work as possible. You learn something every time you see something you’ve never seen before. Once you take all these things on board, and process them through your own experience, you’re ready to make your own statement about how absurd life is. Things don’t always work out the way you thought, so it helps to be flexible and be willing to change something to make it work. The more you do, the better you get.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

I was blessed with fantastic parents that did everything they could to help me develop as a creative person. They would take me to museums and plays. Exposed to me all different kinds of music, films, and books. They bought any materials I asked for. And although I don’t think they understood the kind of work I was making, I never heard a discouraging word.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: They kicked me off of Instagram claiming I violated community standards but they never told me how
• Facebook: Rick Therrio
• Youtube: Rick Therrio is my youtube channel

Image Credits

Jim Quattrocki