Artist Joe Rivera exhibits Rhythms of Colour

Artist Joe Rivera exhibits Rhythms of Colour

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By Mark A. Cadiz

The welcoming vibrant space of the Flying Pony Gallery made perfect sense for emerging artist Joe Rivera.
Driven by a deep appreciation for the arts, the colour infatuated artist has progressed quickly over his short time as a painter.

“I like colours, it’s really my interest and I love to mix colours,” Rivera said with a smile. “I never had the opportunity to paint, so I thought I would start painting.”

And it’s clear through his works that he’s not afraid of colour, experimenting boldly with a range some might stray away from. But Rivera isn’t your traditional artist, he’s come off the beaten path.

A former VP in Human Resources for a company in the Philippines Rivera moved his family to Canada in 1987 with hopes to provide a safer and more stable environment for his four children. Unable to land a job in his field without any Canadian experience, he returned to school to study law at Toronto’s highly reputable Osgoode Hall Law School and became a lawyer at 44. From that point he started his own practice where he specialized in criminal and refugee law.

After taking an early retirement Rivera took a serious interest in drawing and painting, and decided to take art classes.

“I have been working at a frenetic pace just painting and painting,” he said. “I don’t have a specific style yet at this stage…I’m still searching, but I tend not to do abstract work. It is mostly a representation of nature or objects that I see,” he added.

Inspired by artists from both the impressionism movement of the late 19th century and the post-impressionism period Rivera describes his art as figurative.

A piece called Yearning, which he struggled with for a long time, is showing at the gallery. Rivera said he almost threw out the canvas unsatisfied with the direction it was going. Out of frustration he covered it up and starting mixing colours until he found something he wanted to work with.

“It’s euphoric, you are lost not knowing what you are doing, but you go on and paint,” he said. “That was the first time I experienced that process while working on a painting.”

He describes it as two people looking towards something, possibly at the horizon depending on how your interpretation he said. The painting he admits was something deeper than he anticipated.

“I was just painting two people dancing the tango and realized it wasn’t that at all. It evolved into something completely different,” he said.

As Rivera continues to paint from his home studio he eventually hopes to show more of his oil-based works in other galleries in the city.

“I will try to sell them, since they are piling up,” he said jokingly. “If it was up to me I would rather keep them, I don’t care, I’m not in the business mindset anymore.”

And that’s something positive where Rivera is free to explore his art and creativity without the financial strain that might limit young emerging artists today.

Currently six of his acrylic paintings are being exhibited at Flying Pony Gallery in Toronto’s Indian Bazaar at 1481 Gerrard St. East.