The Andrew Bilak Show
The Andrew Bilak Show
Ep. 01 | Anthony Ricciardi: Following Your Heart And Pursuing Your Dream
Who Is Anthony Ricciardi:
In today's episode, I sit down with Anthony Ricciardi, an incredibly talented artist who's accomplished so much at such a young age. He left the world of corporate finance to pursue his dream of being an artist and he's living it!
You can see Anthony's art all over the world in the form of murals, galleries, private installations, and more. His start in the art world was not easy. He had to juggle his 9-5 finance job while simultaneously honing his craft, which meant A LOT of late nights, early mornings and weekends for a VERY long time. His story is extremely inspiring and one you don't want to miss...oh and did I mention that he's also colourblind!?
What We Talk About On This Episode of The Andrew Bilak Show:
- When the right time is to quit your job to pursue your dreams
- How to persevere when you hit the reset button on your life
- Why putting in the work is the ONLY thing that matters
- And much more...
Resources:
Website - www.ricciardipaints.com
Instagram - @ricciardipaints
andrewbilak.com
If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe, rate and review The Andrew Bilak Show on apple podcasts :)
To get more information about future podcasts and to subscribe to the newsletter - click here
The mental struggle that it comes with was never something anyone can care for, like to know every single day. Like, okay, what am I doing this week?
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Andrew Bill ax show. I'm your host, Andrew Black. And my goal is to bring you the best resources, the best people, and the best information to help you maximize and elevate your potential to live an awesome life. So I want to thank you for stopping by and welcome to the[inaudible]
Speaker 3:podcasts.
Speaker 2:Welcome to episode number one, everyone. That sounds pretty funny. Welcome to episode number one. I have a really awesome guest today. His name's Anthony Ricciardi. He's a really good buddy of mine. Anthony left the world of finance to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. And Man is this guy talented, super talented. He's not even 30 years old yet, and he's accomplished so much in terms of art galleries, private showings, shows in Miami, art, Basil. It's just crazy the amount of stuff that he's done in such a short period of time, and he hasn't even scratched the surface yet. So in today's episode we dive deep into how we started, the struggles that he's endured along the way, how he's overcome them, where he's at now, what's in store for him in the future. There's just so much that we cover here. So I hope you guys enjoy it.
Speaker 1:You've known each other for almost five years, I think half a decade. Yeah. So I'm super excited. I mean we've been talking about this, it's been a long time in the making and in case anyone whoever's seen this on, you know, we got ige live going, we got, uh, we're recording this, we're in our jackets, we're in our sweaters. It's a, it's like minus 10 Celsius here in Canada. It's a cold one, but we wanted to do this in the, in the studio. So in case anyone doesn't know, Anthony Ricciardi is an artist. Uh, he left the world of corporate finance to pursue his dream and uh, what an interesting ride has been so far. So, um, dude, what's up? Definitely. I'm excited that we can finally do this. We've been talking about doing this for a while now. So it's a, it is a chilly day, but I make it work. Um, yeah, it's been a definite, definite, uh, exciting journey to get to where we're at today. And, uh, it's been, it's been fun having other entrepreneurs in my life that I can always, um, bounce ideas off of concepts and like all the different things that we go through, you know, building a brand, building a company, doing like all the different facets that come along with it. Um, it's been exciting to have a friend like you that I can always talk to and go through it cause we went through a similar situation that I did and uh, and now we're here today and we're excited about it. It's also great to do this. Started 2019. I'm actually happy. So it's like this is nice, good outlook on the rest of the year and yeah, hundred percent. So, um, I guess for people who don't know who you are and don't know your, why don't you run,
Speaker 4:run us through what that looked like being in your corporate job nine to five and where that transition was, what that moment was, where the or or where your initial kind of pursuit of art led to where you are right now? For sure. So, so,
Speaker 1:well I'll ask you to take it like one step before that and I'll, I'll, I'll talk about going away to school. So, um, I'm from here. I'm from Toronto and I played baseball growing up. I always had a passion for baseball and also had a passion for art. But I never, you know, growing up we never, you never think something's realistic, especially when you're talking about like a creative type of like environment, like anything in art, music, drama, acting, whatever it may be. It always seems like a stretch. Like, AH, some people do that, but I'll take the safer route. And I, I love baseball. So I pursued that to my fullest ability throughout high school. Ended up being fortunate enough to get a scholarship to play at Alabama state. So I went down to Alabama for five years. During that time I, I always had this infatuation with art. Like I would research and study and like I, I had some paintings in Alabama, art gallery down there, but he'd never seen something that I was going to be realistic after my baseball career. Um, at school I got a degree in finance. So it was, you know, as the most typical thing that we're going to do. I'm good in business. I understand finance. I should probably get a job in finance because it's going to create stability for my future and I, so I do. So I, I get, I, I leave that it's when I say I do. So it wasn't as easy as it seemed to get a job in finance given that every summer I had to play baseball. So when all my, like I guess I'll call them competitors, guys my age that were getting internships in the summertime, like four or five months at Xyz Bank and all these different things. I was planning it playing in Alabama. So coming out of school I had to take an entire different approach to get that job. And I think that those lessons like the way in which I got to university by reaching out to every university and like really forcing my way there, the way that I got into finance, which it took more than just emailing my resume around, it took more than just going into the the banks or whatever. I want to work, I want to work for an investment fund. It took more than just like walking in, here's my resume, like I have like one retail job experience. Like I had no experience. So I was like, who's this kid? Like, okay, thank you. Like we don't, we know we don't need this. Like we need someone with experience. And there's always that like tough thing where it's like we want someone to experience but we want someone that we can mold. And it's like that weird. I was in that like weird stage. So I had to take a different approach, which was like literally hit the ground running with my, I feel literally become my own brand, even in finance. I mean like I can prove that I'm gonna work harder than anyone else, even though I didn't start that way. I didn't know what to specifically do. So that's what I did. I was, I'm very, very lucky to get a job working for a real estate investment fund on Yorkville in here in Toronto. So it was, you know, it was a boutique feel where I got the opportunity to like really get, get my hands dirty with like deals and everything. So, and that was very, very exciting to me. So I just, when I first graduated, I, um, it was, it was awesome. Like I was just everything I can ask for, right. I graduated with finance and gone to a finance job, work for a huge real estate investment fund, and it was like, okay, this is perfect. And then I, well the studio we're in is, it's in the back of my, my parents are, so I was living at home at the time and I started or this is definitely where it started. So this is all you saw would be trees and you see like there's figs growing in here and lemons and like everything else. Yeah. So I cut everything down. We weren't using it as a family anymore and I started painting at night. Like it was sort of an outlet for me. I was um, very, very much inspired by my uncle Fab who was an artist and he unfortunately passed away when I was in university and when I came home just like, I guess sort of like finally being back home and re resetting with everything, I was looking back at his old poetry in his old, his old notebooks and his old things that I, I started just painting around that like I didn't really think anything of it. Again, like common thought is what's gonna happen. Like it's, it's art. Like let's be realistic with our lives here. I'm making good money. Like stop complaining Anthony. Like they'll sort of me Todd telling myself and the outside world telling myself. So I started painting as a passion and then he started turning. This is about, we're looking at like six years ago now a, it started turning into, okay now I'm painting every other night, now I'm painting every night now. Literally every waking moment that I have, I'm either back here painting or in my bedroom spray painting or unlike anything I could do, I want it to paint. So four years ago, so after about two years of that, like literally just honing in on my craft, figuring out how to paint, like I taught myself from, from the scratch. Like I didn't have anyone that really taught me art. So I just learned what I loved. I studied art and understood what I wanted to do and then, and that's sort of the path I took. So after two years I'm like, well I want to have an art show. And of course I didn't have any galleries or anyone doing it. So I took that same approach and how I got to finance, like reaching out to 300 different banks. And funds and hoping that one says yes. I did the same thing with art and I found a venue, um, downtown that would allow me to have a one night small show. And it, I had like 30 pieces, which was a very, very big show for my first solo show. And it went really, really well. And it was a sort of, for me, it was like, I can do this. Like, let's, let's keep pushing. I hear later continue to paint. So it was like I was literally engulfed in the art world every single day and night without being an artist. So like if people from the outside looked in, they wouldn't probably wouldn't even know that I worked in finance cause I was literally painting every other moment, like my nights and my weekends. Everything I could do was paint. I had another show on Ossington, um, three years ago at another gallery there. It wasn't, so it was there. Um, we were a couple of new deep defect. Uh, it was so it was, it was super, that was super exciting and it wasn't sponsored by a gallery, but what, what it was is I rented gallery space that allowed me to like host something like that. Um, so that was super, super fun. And then it started to click in at that point I'm like, I really want to do this. Like I really want to do this full time. And I was working full time when I did those shows. So like everyone, like I had my little bosses come to Meijer shows and they're like, why? When did you do this? Like you have the[inaudible] 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM when did you do this? And at the time I was, at that time I was running a baseball school as well, like a nights just for you know, a extra money but it'd be, cause I really love baseball. So it was, I was doing all three of those things and they're like, why would you do 40 paintings? Like in the last year I took a year. I was like, well I just love doing it. It didn't feel not on company time and it just didn't feel like work. Right. So it was at that point where I was like different opportunities because over those, as now we're fast running four and a half years during the four and half years I'm reaching out to galleries, I'm reaching out to architects, interior designers, like really anyone that would listen, like if, if anyone that had anything to do with art, I was reaching out to. And that was something that I learned from trying to find a scholarship. And that was something that I found out trying to find a finance thing. So I just took those same lessons to like tie it all back together. Took those same lessons into my art career. And over the four and half years I started reaching out. And of course no one listens. Like it doesn't happen overnight. And after about, you know, four and a half years, two solo shows, sold quite a few paintings was, was really running around with it. Um, a couple of opportunities start to come up. And this was at the point where I realized I had transitioned from one company to another company. You know, a common thought in society is if I go make more money, I'll be happier that that's not the case. So especially for me, like I, I left one job to go to another job and I thought like, okay, like I'll be more financially secure. So that means the outcome of that is happiness. But it wasn't because I was happy doing this and it didn't matter. It truly, it truly didn't matter. Like how much I could've made it and finance, I wasn't doing this every day. So it was at that point where opportunities started to come up, hey, come do a mural over here. Hey, we want to do an archer over there. Hey, come do a, we'll spend a week in New York. We got into a couple of big murals in a show. I'm just like, well, I can't take the time off of work. Like, I mean, I work, I have a responsibility. I have like I went to my, I remember going to my boss and I'm like, Hey, um, I got to go to New York for a week. Oh, for a while. Like you were just on vacation like two months ago. I'm like, yeah, it's for art murals and art. They didn't even know what painted. Then my second job and I was like, yeah, I gotta do a mirror. And they're like, no, you're not leaving for a week to go do art by code who it is just like, what are you Bob Ross? Like this doesn't work. It doesn't work that way. And I'm like, okay, fine. And it sorta was at that point where I got, I've got a call one like Tuesday night, I'll never forget. And it's like, Hey, we need you in New York. Like you need to come to New York, we need this mural done and we want you to do it. And I remember like, like it was yesterday driving home and I was like, what am I doing? Like is there, of course there's never the right time to do something insane. Like quit. Like you said, to start like, quit your corporate finance job to pursue art. But for me, I knew there was never going to be the right time and I was like, you know what, I have to do it now. We were, it was actually sorry. It was actually the worst time. Like it was a week before my wedding, the day I closed on my first house. So like, I literally signed documents to close a mortgage on my first house then, then the week I, then that day I quit my job and I was getting married that Saturday. Like it was like the biggest mess ever. And I'm like, well, it can't get worse than this. I'm doing it today. And um, how old are you swat becoming 25. It's okay to have 24, seven or so, uh, 25. And uh, since two years ago now. And um, and that was it. So I said, if I, I'm doing all of this with like this little bit of time, and I was, I believe in like making the most out of every single one of our days. And I felt like if I'm, I'm finding from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM time to paint, what if I had 8:00 AM to 3:00 AM like what can I create? And um, and that's what I did. So after I left the, it's been a crazy journey since then, but I, I left that to, to pursue the unknown. Like really this is all, I mean it still is and I think forever will be an unknown, but it's a, it's an exciting one and I have the ability to on a Friday have a podcast with you, et cetera. That that's the try to keep it as quick as possible. But that's the story.
Speaker 4:I love that. That's, that's, it's such an amazing story. I think one area that people will definitely want to know a little bit more and if you can take a little bit deeper, is the age of entrepreneurship that we live in now. You know, people are quitting their jobs left, right and center. They don't know what the right jump off point is. Uh, you know, people might second guess themselves, they might go into something completely, you know, irresponsibly based on things that they have, you know, all the patients to in their life. Here you are just before your wedding, uh, you know, you're quitting your job, you're closing on your house.
Speaker 1:How did you,
Speaker 4:whey that process out of understanding when you had to actually pull that trigger, what was going on in your life that made sense and say, wow, I have all of these things that, uh, you know, I've, I've responsibilities towards it might not be the best time, but what pushed you over the edge in order for you to find this, say in the face of all of this, I'm going to pursue this and there's no turning back now?
Speaker 1:Such a good question. And I think I literally think about that all the time. I see it's in the world we live in, like you mentioned, entrepreneurship and all thing is very, very much glorified now. Like everybody wants to be a entrepreneur and it doesn't matter what you're doing. Like, I'm an artist, I still consider myself an entrepreneur, like in like right, a business owner and I've seen so many people jump prematurely in into it. It's like a, we've had this discussion, um, off camera a hundred times about like the actual struggles and mental struggles. It is to do this daily. Like I know it looks fun like it is, but I know it looks more like, oh, so exciting like Anthony and be like, get to do whatever they want to do on a daily basis about the mental struggle that comes with was never something anyone can prepare for. Like to know every single day. Like, okay, what am I doing this week? Like, well, I don't have a, I don't have a check coming in two weeks. So I don't think I could have ever planned for that. I'm going into this. But what I was comfortable with is knowing that the four and a half years before that I, I to myself was comfortable knowing that I put in the work. The biggest thing. I had a a young guy just out of university come into my art gallery, uh, like eight months ago. He comes in and is astronomically inspired by my story and it's telling me all this different stuff. He's like, I want to do what you did. I want to start a clothing line. I'm like, that's, that's exciting bro. Like, I'm super excited for you. He's like, I quit my job yesterday. I'm like, cool. Okay. Like, that's, that's awesome. Like, yeah. I mean, I don't ever encourage anyone to quit their jobs, but I'm like, that's great man. So you're getting your colonize doing well. He's like, haven't started yet. I'm like, you mean I haven't started yet? He's like, well, this week I'm gonna, I'm going to go, I'm going to buy tee shirts and hats. I'm gonna create a name. Maybe there's stuff, you know. I'm like, but you quit your job already. He's like, yeah, of course. Like I'd just been just falling. What you did? You like, you quit your job and you see your hurt. I'm like, yeah, but for four and a half years times my whole entire life I did this and it was at that tipping point, which you'll never know the tipping point, so like to go to, to answer your question, it was at that point where I was like, okay, now I have to do this. I'm like, why not for the next two years? Didn't you develop your clothing line in nights and weekends and just want to ask them like you have to analyze your life. Like what do you do when you finish work? Uh, like I like x box. Like his answers were horrendous and I was like, I do like, I want to be on your side, I want to support you, but I don't think this is the right step. I actually think that you should have, you should go back or create a company on the side. Like while you're working, like we have so many hours in a day when you actually think about it. Like you really just like write down a schedule for yourself Monday morning. Like what do I do? I wake up at 6:00 AM I go to work, I have a tough job. It's mentally draining like we all do. Then it's like I get home at seven, I've got to chill, I have a wife, I have a girlfriend, I have a boyfriend, whatever it may be. Okay, spend time with them. Then what? Like are you watching Netflix or are just hanging out on Xbox? Like what is that? And, and when I realized, so for me into the point was, is like I was literally spending every other waking second doing this. It wasn't like I wasn't wasting any time. So when I was, when I did that, I was like, I, this is the time. Like I'm, I don't actually, I physically, because I was draining myself out every single day, I'm like, I physically don't have any other time. So that was the time for me. It was like I literally pushed my body and like, and I paid for that in the future. Or like I, I went through like every single night being in here till three, 4:00 AM and like I was still living at home. My parents call me like, Yo, the lights still on. Like what are you doing out there? Like are you okay? It's the middle of winter, you're freezing my finger. I'm freezing. Like you can't be, you can't just keep working like this. You'll, you'll, you'll run your body dry like you just will. And those, at that point I'm like, well fine, I need to allocate time better. And that's when I took the leap. So when I, when I talk back to you, like young entrepreneurs, old entrepreneurs, like it doesn't really matter what age because age doesn't matter in the, in the scope of it. Um, it's, I think that you should create something every waking minute that you have and then when it takes over what you're doing, you should leave and do it. That's what I think. Um, what, what about for you? Like what was that process like on your end? Like it was, I know it was similar cause you had the passions to do this and, and, and you came from a corporate world as well, where like, what was, what was your transition into it? Like, was it similar? Did you find yourself that engulf you would every other angle and you're like, I need to take this opportunity to come to,
Speaker 4:yeah. So No, you're in it. I completely relate to to everything you're saying. And I'm sure a lot of people that have quit their jobs and then have gone on to pursue their passion also relate to that story. But yeah, absolutely. It's not a matter of when is the right time because you'll never know when the right time is. You will never know when the right time is. And so essentially you have to take a look at, at what you're doing, what your habits are, what your actions are, and and be pursuing your passion in every other minute that you have outside of the obligations that you have in your life, outside of family time, outside of your job, you have to be relentlessly pursuing what it is that you want to do. And in doing so, you will develop new habits, you will develop new mindsets, you will develop it, a new way of, of understanding, of being in a thinking. And once you kind of step into that and you start to see the trajectory that you're on and getting a taste of that passion that a lot of people think that that's what they want to pursue. Like that, that's a big, that's a big sticking point is that people say, you know, they, they talk a lot about their passions and some people say, you know, I want to be an artist. I want to be a painter, I want to be a musician. And you know, some people actually are very talented and skilled and that is their passion. But some people have only done those things a couple of times and then, you know, social media glorifies it for them and you know, they want to be the next big thing and they think, yeah, you know, my quitting my job, that's going to be the release for me to get to that level of success. And it's not, and it's not will you will, once you quit your job and you decide to, to be a solo preneur start a business, whatever it is, you will find that you, you will find out more about yourself in, in those days, weeks, months, years that you never even knew because it is a long arduous, it's a solo ride and you have to battle through it if you really, really want it. Those are the people that succeed.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And, and the kicker too is that like not none of us really highlight is that most of the businesses feel like the simple reality to it is hundreds of businesses are started that, sorry, hundreds of thousands of businesses that are started a year and only a few make it. So if you're not willing to deal with that, like the chance that it may not make it, like if it really doesn't engulf your entire being, then you can't take that leap. Like it's very difficult. Like there's a lot of um, a lot of motivational speakers and like life coaches that speak about being the number two or number three or number eight in the company and being super successful. Like the number eight at Facebook is still a billionaire. That is important like for us to understand the society. Like you don't have to be like the entrepreneur like it is. I, you know, and I guess being in this world now, like a lot of my friends have started companies now and people that I've met over the last couple of years and like it's so crazy to speak to everyone and literally it doesn't matter what they do in life, we're going through the exact same thing. It's so funny. I know I'm not and it's not a negative thing. Like I'll be like we can, we can discuss mental health, we can talk about other things. It's not, it's not at that level. It's at a level of like, at the end of the day it all comes back to you and like you can have the best support system, the best team in the world, all this different stuff going on. But at the end of everything, it your on the line. So I think that's the biggest leap that I think when people leave a job they don't understand. And um, and there's never, again, there's, there's never the right time, but it's, uh, if you really, really, really love what you do and I say, I say follow your heart a lot. Like I, a lot of my artwork has hearts included. I think that was a, a way of telling myself when I was first quitting my job. Like I first started doing that harder book like two and a half years ago when I was transitioning out of work. And it was like literally just me telling myself like, Bro, follow your heart. Like where like, I mean, just do what you want to do and like if you work hard enough, it will work out and like different things. Things have happened in my life that I could never have planned for. But I think it's literally a byproduct of, of doing that, of doing exactly that. Like, I love doing x, so I'm going to do everything it takes, like I'm going to work backwards to do everything it takes to get to x. And that's, um, that's what I said at the beginning. It's exciting to start a 2019 to do this now because it's, uh, it's another fresh start, right? Like, um, last year I was very, very fortunate to have, uh, an art gallery in Yorkdale Mall, which people that don't know Yorkdale it's like, you know, it's, it's one of the top malls in North America. It's a luxury mall and was like very, very, extremely fortunate to have an opportunity to have an art gallery in there. And, and then I look at this year and I'm like, okay, so I don't have that art gallery and I don't have, oh, cause it was just, it ended in were we went off to different things. And I don't have any other galleries that represent me. So I'm back to the solo grind, which is amazing because now I can re reconfigure what I want to do. Like, cause instead of the, I was spending all my time in there, now I can figure out, okay, what, what is my end goal? Like it's, it's museum shows, it's big brand collaborations. It's like, it's all these different things and now I gotta figure out how to get there. And it's an exciting like sort of starting over. And I think that's something that we all go through. It's like every year they'll start over. Like there's no, I have friends who have super structured jobs and they love their lives and they know at 64 they're gonna retire with x pension. They're going to do what they want to do. And that's amazing. That's super exciting to know. Like everyone, we need those people in life and that support. Like those friends of mine are great sports system to me and I'm a good support system to them. But I don't know what that is. Like, I don't have that. Uh, I work 2000 hours and I, I can check out. I, it just never ends. So it's um, yeah, it's exciting for that though. So
Speaker 4:let me ask you this. I mean we've had murals and installations featured all around the world. Um, like you just brought up your, your Yorkville show Yorkdale show. It was all of your shows. Um, seem to have themes behind that. Like that one is less, isn't more, you know, behind us we have enjoy the moment that's spray painted on.
Speaker 1:This is the name of my a Yorkville show cause I had the gallery on Yorkdale was less as and more. And this one was a Yorkville. Yeah.
Speaker 4:So you have a very interesting style. Can you elaborate a little bit more on where you found the inspiration behind that and where do you continue to find the inspiration to continue to roll out the pieces and the installments and the murals that you do? For sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So again, like a lot of them start by me talking to myself and in the sense of when I'm doing a piece I like, I need a why behind it. So when I did less isn't more, um, it was, you know, when I was working in a, went back to me sitting in that cubicle and like when I'm, when I'm working, I was working and I, I've come home and I would do bass, I would have the baseball school and then after that I would be painting all night and everyone around me, like my closest friends, my parents, everyone was like, hey, like why are you doing so much? Like, why don't you just like take it easy one day? I'm just like, no, like in life, if I want to do more, I have to do more. Like the whole less is more, it works in certain situations, but not executing life goals. I don't believe that at all. I think that's the biggest lie ever. So in, in my life I felt that if the more I did, the more I put myself out there, the more it will come back to me. And I saw it unfold in my, like right in front of me. So when I did the show, it was sort of like, uh, I, I guess like looking back a little bit of a subliminal shot to everyone in the world. Like say
Speaker 4:like, no, you're wrong. Actually, the more you do, the more you get. Um, there's, there's different situations in life where less is more, I don't, don't disagree, but in, but in the context of what your life of the journey that you're on is that if he's actually, she's success. If you want to continue to, to reach the pinnacle or if you just want to continue doing what you're doing on your own terms, less isn't more, you have to give it everything that you have day every single day. Even if there's no end in sight, even if you don't know what the end is but you're enjoying it, then new opportunities emerge that you would have never even imagined. Like, I'm sorry, like run us through some of them, some of the shows and installations and events that you've been invited to do all around the world. I'm sure people would love to hear, well, you know, where do they can possibly see or work if they're in that city or wherever they are.
Speaker 1:Um, like anything, one thing leads to another and I think so in murals have been a big, big thing for me. Like I remember doing my first mural, my first large scale mural was actually on Ossington, which was the, the building that I did in mind for my second art show in. And I just, I told, I simply lied. I was like, oh, of course I can do this an entire building. I'm like, yeah, I've done plenty. And I show entrepreneur, like I showed them like, you know, some small scale versions. I'm like, I'll just do this in big, I had no idea what I was getting into. It was, it was crazy, but I, I did it. Of course I was, it was for my own trust. So I didn't get paid. And I want to talk about that for like a quick second. All my first murals, like a lot of my first paintings. I like a lot of what I did, especially at the start and to a certain point to today, I just did, I didn't expect anything in return. I definitely didn't expect anything monetarily. Like why would someone pay me to do this on their wall? They've never seen what I can do. Like who, how they trusting me. I'm literally about to spray paint an entire building. Like how, I don't even know why they're trusting me right at the start. And I was like, so I need to truly build that portfolio. Now sort of goes back to the four years of work. Like I built a, a Rolodex of my paintings and like I can refer to them when I'm showing someone else in the future. So that's how I took the start in my art career. Like a couple of my first biggest murals, like my big New York ones, my uh, my big Brazil one, like all the different things. Like if I was paid, it wasn't much and I, and it was usually just to like get me there. And a lot of people don't understand that. They're like at the start is like, oh wow, like so cool and these mural and xyz places I been fortunate enough to do in like 1212 countries. Like yeah, like that's what people don't understand. Exactly. A stepping stone. It's exactly the thing. Is this to the next thing? Yes, yes. And that that hit like perfectly, I understood that it takes a thousand of these to start demanding. Like I'm not even talking about monetary compensation, I'm talking about just credit. Like for people that said like Anthony Ricciardi deck and he should do this for me it really doesn't come down to money because I, if you can tell me that I can go to London, England and do four big murals and I'm not going to get paid, but guess what? You get to go to London in England to do for murals. I will do it like you, you like, you know what I mean as a time[inaudible] now send him choking by, you know what I mean? Like I really valued that opportunity and I, I, I took them like as anyone. Like anything that was available for me, anything I could do, anytime I was like, yes, I will do that because now I can go back to my portfolio. And with all of those murals came news interviews with all of those installations came articles with all of those, like all those little things built to be something else. And to, to what you said is you always think it's the next thing I can. So I'm very, very fortunate. Like, uh, my wife, Cassandra, like her and I worked together and I can, I couldn't even imagine the amount of times that an opportunity came up. A mural came up, a private commission came up and installation came up. Uh, a gallery show came up and we're like, Whoa, like this is the thing, like this is going to take us like the next level. And like, selfishly I look in the mirror and I'm just like, wow, if I do this mural in whatever country, this is gonna like blow my career, this is going to be amazing. And to a certain point, of course it does, but it doesn't at all. You know what I mean? Like, isn't, it was never like, I'm going to do this huge installation for this big beautiful home. It's a private commission. There's huge art collectors. I'm going to get x dollars, they're going to have x friends come see it and it's going to blow my career up to here. Sure it was great. But no, that didn't happen. I'm going to do this. Big Murals can be on them. It's on King Street. It's going to be the whole entire building. I'm going to do this and has the most traffic. I'm going to get all this stuff. It's going to blow my career up. Sure. It was amazing. But no, it didn't. So it was all these little, little, little pieces that create the overall picture. And um, I think that's, I think that's what it all is. And I think that that's the beauty of it. Like if we don't enjoy like the literal moment that we're in, and if I'm always thinking about, oh, I need to do something to get something else, I'll, you'll never do anything. Or you'll never, definitely never do anything. Well, cause there's so many times that I, I didn't want to do something. So especially at the beginning of my career, like people would come to me and tell me to do a certain painting. Like I, at the start I was like, okay fine, like y'all do it, but maybe it'll make me a couple of dollars and I promise you like I'm so grateful for the opportunity not to have to do that anymore because I don't want to do a painting. I don't want to do them. You know? I don't like what it looks like and I don't think it's me that I don't because if it starts to feel like a cubicle job again, I'm not happy and that's not what I did this for. Yeah. Like I, if I've had to be fair, very big opportunities, monetary and exposure to do something I did not like and I just wouldn't take it because it just doesn't make sense. Like I'm doing this because I want to enjoy the current moment I'm in because I just, I don't know. You don't know when it's done.
Speaker 4:Thank. And that's huge. That that takes a lot of self awareness to, to say, I as an entrepreneur, when you first start out in whatever field you're in and you start saying yes to everything right? And, uh, you know, that's fine in the beginning because you know, you have to eat, you gotta put a bit like Sherman on your table, you gotta you know, you gotta start growing your brand and getting yourself out there. But for you it was interesting because, you know, here you are and you know, telling me that you have to say no to certain things because they didn't fit into your brand. They didn't fit into into what you wanted to do and how you can truly express yourself. And for a lot of people, that's huge because people start just going down that path where they start seeing, you know, they see, they see the dollars, right? You see money, you see, you see the adulation and that kind of stuff leads to, you know, you're, you're creating and creating and creating and one day you wake up, you're going, what am I creating? This is not what I want to do. This is not what's at my core. Yup. And so that, that's really interesting and it's huge to see that self awareness is being taken a look at internally every single day saying, okay, this piece that's being presented to me, do I want to do this? Is this in line with what I'm doing? And even in a place where you're still growing, right, of course will grow and you're finding what it is that you want to continue to do. And on that note, I mean for people who've never seen your style, you have a very unique style. I mean, what, what would that, how would you describe that style and where do you get the inspiration from that stuff? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think the, like my, so I, I work in layers, like the coping things that you can like see back here, this is like a very, very early layered painting. Like I'll work on, uh, a background of peace for a week or so. Um, the main, the main reason is, is, so I'm color blind. But the reason that being colorblind, like that's a, that's a talking point that like news articles have brought out on stuff like that. But it actually has a lot to do with how I paint because I can, I can read, so I can see the color that it says on a, on a spray paint, gas, cancer's red. So I spray red. I can't add another color to that red until it's fully dry. Because where, where the colorblindness like comes into play in terms of a negatively is when I start blending because I don't see any shades. So when Red Brown, black are beside each other, they look the same green, yellow, they look the same blue, purple, they look the same. Like all those shades that are relatively close, like maybe they're not close to everyone else, but they look the exact same to me. So the way I, I layer is I put my paint down, I let it dry. So paintings become very, very thick, which allows me to have like a depth and a story behind each painting. So that's sort of how like my initial style came to be. It was, it was through the fact that I was doing layer, layer, layer. Then I add imagery and like usually it's recognizable imagery and like again, excited to talk about 2019 like I'm going into like a really, really exciting style that I really, really love it. It gets a lot more, it's, it's a little bit different than what I've been doing. It has still has to do the same like attributes that my, my classic paintings have taken. But I want, I want to elevate to a, like another level now that'll, you know, really put me in that, uh, I'll, I'll rock and say museum's stage, but like the, the stage of the next level of mark career. So I'm really in, that includes sculpture bases and all the different things. And even like when I'm creating a new sculpture, it has to do with layers as well. Like the process to create that sculpture has to be done in a, you know, a layered format that would take the place of my art. So I think that like layers like coming down to like that that's how the initial style style came. And then my writing, I write a lot in my, uh, my pieces that came from rewind six years when, or five and a half years ago when I started like reading my uncle's poetry and I started to incorporate the portrait. Like before I even started writing my own poetry or my own lyrics or my own quotes, I started to incorporate his, it was sorta like, I guess an outlet for me. Like subliminally didn't really even realize I was doing it. Start to incorporate some of his poetry and then eventually transition into my own. But that's, that's why like the, the layers happened to be like, um, and it was tough to see in camera. But like this painting back here, like you can see the small, um, the small writing and the background of it, right? That background layer of writing. Then I paint over it and then I read something else. And like as a, as a viewer, the goal is that you see something different every time you look at the painting. If it was just a static painting and there was no depth to it, it gets boring. And you hopefully, I hope that people have that on their wall for a hundred years past me. They have to be able to see something new every day. And that's like my main goal. That's incredible. So not only
Speaker 4:me quitting your job, it'd be wanting to fulfill your dream of becoming an artist. The numbers are stacked against anyone who who, you know, chooses to go down their own path. But you chose to become an artist and you're color blind. Like it's just, that's absolutely, absolutely incredible. And so it's interesting that you said that you draw it and you're creating your own unique style, but that style is actually come from and you said it subconsciously, it came from things that you were exposed to growing up 100%. So it's whether or not you realize that and sometimes people can't put their finger on it. But you know, you're telling me that, that your style has evolved to include your own flare, but, but different elements of, of who you actually are, what made up your life, what's making up
Speaker 1:for sure. I think that anyone that does something creatively, like you can always refer back to someone from the past, right? Like it, like every artist or even singer, like anything, like in the creative field, I think you can go and you can say like, oh, the drips look like this artist. The heart looks like that artist. The layers look like that. Ours. But I think as an, as a creative, you want to find your own to find your own thing. It takes years of doing all those different things and it up how you envision it to be at the end. And I think that's a really, really tough thing for, for artists and creatives to do. Like, it's so easy for me to look at some of them and I idolize like an artist that I idolize and I'd be like, wow, I want to do paintings like him. So easy for me to do that. Right. But then you'll, you'll never grow as an artist. So it's, um, it's no, it's an exciting time. Like, I mean, I think I'm at that like level now where I can, I can experiment with different things, try different things. I can put my art into like, um, you know, different venues, clothing and, and statue work and large, larger scale murals and like, you know, the live installations, like painting live. Like there's so many different things that it can encompass. Like I can, I can do bottles and I can like, it's, it doesn't end right. So that's what I'm, um, I'm excited about doing. Just like truly taking this now and seeing what other fun stuff we can do with it.
Speaker 4:That's interesting. So I mean, you mentioned that ucms are a big goal for you and you've had the ability to be featured and do a lot of installations and work with organizations. Do a lot of collaborations. I mean, you were just in art basil this, this past December and you had a whole show there. Where does museums fit in that? Is that something that came about based on experiencing those shows and understanding that that's where you see yourself heading or as museum's been been something that's been your north star through and through from this entire journey?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think for like, you know, uh, getting into a museum is like the, I guess the end goal for any real artists. Like you've finally establish yourself in a global art world. Um, you know, my step, there's a thousand steps before that. Um, that's why I guess I love that, that process of trying to figure out how I can eventually get into a, you know, um, quote unquote museum. Yeah. But I think that what it is to say like my end star, I think that like knowing what it would take to get there and being able to work backwards and seeing all those like fun steps in between. Like, I know in order for me to eventually get into a museum, I, there's a thousand exciting, um, opportunities in between there. Like it's big gallery shows, it's global gallery shows. I've never been in a, in a international gallery, right? Like, so it's besides like my own chosen Miami, La and stuff like that. I've never done a solo show in London. I'd never done a solo show in Dubai. Like those things are all on my list before I get to like that stage. And I think knowing all those exciting things in between or what's so fun, like, I mean if I couldn't visualize, like I'm, I'm planning my 20, 20 Dubai trip where I'm going to have a big, big solo show. Like I'm already planning that. And like if I didn't have that on the outlook, like in my outlook, then I having that end goal a museum is sort of a, museums were artists go to die. Like that's where it's all dead artists. Like, you know, really I don't want to be in a museum, right? Like, if you really think about it like that, it's not in theory all that artists, but like, you know what I mean? Like I, I wouldn't want to do that end thing cause that's, that's not exposure or monetarily beneficial. It's something that happens when you do everything well. And, and being in an industry that's so subjective to personal opinion, meaning you can look at my art and say, it's the most incredible thing you've ever seen. The next person walks in and be like, this is the worst painting I've ever seen. And it happens. Like it does. Like, I mean, I, I, you have to be willing to accept that type of criticism, right? Like as a, as an individual, it's very, very difficult. I, um, you've, you've watched all the stories of people that are like broke down because of the amount of hate they take. Like the Internet's such a weird thing. Like I don't, like, I wouldn't, I, the Internet, the world that we live in today is such a weird thing because people can literally just message you or say something like, your art sucks. Or I'm like, why? Like, how did you even have the time in your day to message me that like, right. So if I worried about that, the, and didn't enjoy the process, the museum and goal would not, he wouldn't even be there. Like who cares? But Jimmy getting there just means I'm gonna take more criticism. So if I'm not enjoying the write up, then this is horrible. Or like I'm just gonna go back to the cubicle, make something steady. So that's, um, that's the way I look at it. I, I look at it like I'm, when I say enjoy the moment, I literally mean whatever it is. Like I've been fortunate over the last like month now to take a little bit more time off. Like I'm still do a thousand things to do mural disaster noon. Like I'm doing those things, but take a little more time off in terms of I'm not as go, go, go, go, go, go. Because I'm trying to reset myself in terms of, let me look back to what are those actual goals and what is next for me. Because if I don't do that and I just get lost in the, okay, Anthony, be here, Anthony, be there to go live in van over there, do this over here, I'll, I'll go crazy. You don't know where you're going. Exactly.
Speaker 4:So, um, I mean this has been absolutely incredible. And as we start to kind of wind down here and a couple of questions, what has been the most unexpected thing that has come out of meeting people doing shows? Um, whether that's something personally, whether that's something, um, that, that actually came about, uh, an opportunity. Is there one thing or maybe two things that stand out that came about that you're like, wow, this, this is incredible. I would have never imagined this or it's something along those lines.
Speaker 1:Well, that's tough one. Sorry to put you on the spot. Super tough. That's super tough. Um hmm. I don't, I don't know. Um, yeah, like I, I'll go back to saying I, it's, that's, that's tough I think because I why is, see, that's tough. And I'll explain why stuff is that like, I'm truly, truly grateful to be able to do this every day. Meaning that the outcome of all of these different things have given me the life I have right now. So it's very, very difficult. Like I can say a thousand things like I can, I did, I was doing a mural downtown Toronto, a guy who walks by, he's like, I really like what you're doing. I'm halfway done. I can't wait to see it finished. He comes back when it's finished. Like I'm hiring you for my bar. I go to, I go to that when I do a mural for him, three people walk in, they're like, wow, we really, really love this. It's so cool. Do you do canvases? I sell five canvases. One, it's in their living room. Their friend comes over for dinner. Wow. I really, really liked that cameras. Where'd you get it? Acting fraternity. Let me go find them. I do chemistry. So like the trickle and the train is never ending when you're doing things in the world. So I don't think there's, um, there's definitely not a specific moment I can think of. I think that the, the one of the biggest outcomes that have come from all of this is the, like I talked about casts a few times with my wife and like the ability that I, especially to start off our marriage, like we'd been together for 12 years with, especially at the start of our marriage a year and a half ago, we can work together is the most exciting thing as, and like, I mean that truthfully is I like I can, I, I'm a, I'm, I had the ability day to day to have someone that literally supports me by my side at a time and all of these little opportunities are allowing that to happen and I think that's a super exciting outcome that's come. And then being able to like couple that I think a really, really other, another fun thing that's happened as a byproduct of all of this. Again, it's not a singular thing, but it's the being being able to travel like one of our like you know, dreams or being able to travel and like, hey come to London, come to Manchester, come to New York, come to like come to Brazil and la twice a month. Like come to all these things to do art as a, it's a like a super, super surreal thing to think about like you like, do you know what I mean? Like I can't actually, my, my younger self wouldn't be able to fathom that. Like, you know what I mean? I remember having to book a vacation six months in advance and like literally yesterday I was talking to cas, I'm like, oh I have a couple meetings in the Cayman Island. Let's just go to the Cayman. And we just booked a trip because I don't have to, I just do it. Can I go to like, you know what I mean? I'm like, okay, like so February we're going to go to the Cayman just because I have a couple meetings but it's art related and then I'm like, oh. And then also I have a couple gallery muse in la. So like, do you want to go next week? Like yeah, of course, let's book a flight and we'll go all art related. So I think that the biggest byproduct is like the flexibility to like actually do what you want to do. And um, so like it's not a singular thing. So, I'm sorry I didn't answer the time, but I think like the being able to have the flexibility in life to know that like it's a Friday afternoon and I get to hang out with you right now and we get the check is the biggest thing ever. Like we um, Andrew and I like, we, we try to meet up as often as possible and we will, we'll go to a Starbucks, we'll go to wherever and we'll just chat about like, what's going on in life and those type of moments. Like I, I'm so grateful for like supposed to be able to like hang out on a, on a Tuesday after Tuesday morning, like at a coffee shop. Like what? Oh, like who gets to do that? Like, you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 4:that's, that's, that's the best create and that's the best outcome. I love that. That's a great answer. Well put Anthony, uh, for people who want to find you want to find your work, they want to learn more about you. Where is it that they can reach you? Where is it that they can find you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm active on Instagram. Um, this is being streamed live right now. We got to go check all the messages in a minute. But uh, I, Instagram is at Ricciardi paints. My website is Ricciardi paints.com, so it's our ICCI a r d I paints Pai, nts.com. Um, I'm pretty much on all platforms. It's retreading paints and yeah, my email is team@retreadingpaints.com like you can email us. Um, yeah, like that's, that's pretty much it right now I'm just like, I'm working on like a bunch of different commission pieces so I don't have a gallery that's showing, um, my work full time, like in the represents me. So it's all like directly through me, which is exciting cause I get to work with like, you know, the end user right away and like with create something that's like really beautiful for their home or venue, whatever it may be. And A, I'm working on a couple of really, really exciting projects. Like I have my first sculpture release, full blown sculpture that I created, um, coming off Valentine's Day so it'll be released early next week. Um, I put full video and all that information, which will be like really, really, really exciting for me cause it's something I've wanted to do for a long time is like to create an actual sculpture and I'm doing a very, very limited a hundred pieces of them and there'll be like hand finished and grade, all that fun stuff so that, that's going to be cool. And then, uh, that's it. That's amazing.
Speaker 4:If you guys haven't checked out, Anthony, be sure to take a look at what he's doing and follow him. Uh, reach out to him. He's super accessible. Dude, thank you so much for your time. This has been an absolute blast. We'll do this again sometime soon. I love it.
Speaker 2:I hope you guys enjoyed the podcast. Anthony was an awesome guest to have on. He's such a great story and there's so much information that he shares from an actionable standpoint, from an inspirational standpoint. Now, if you guys are enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to let me know, shoot me a message in Instagram. Shoot me a DM, my handle's at Andrew, Bill Ag. Feel free to tag me and put it in your stories. Let me know that you're listening to it. I'd love to know that you guys are enjoying it and let me know what you guys want to hear in the.