Chris Julian Rivas is a figure painter from Los Angeles who’s work introduces a complex perspective his experience and those around him by bridging art historical tradition and contemporary culture. Inspired by art historical genres Baroque realism to Romanticism, he portrays characters that inhabit surreal, emotionally complex worlds that blur the line between fantasy and reality.

Often portrayed in moments of vulnerability, pleasure, or quiet resistance, Chris’s figures serve both as narrative symbols and as vehicles for formal exploration. He uses color as a psychological force, manipulating hue and saturation to evoke wonder, discomfort, sensuality, and longing. His paintings reflect a layered identity shaped by multicultural aesthetics, personal mythology, and a deep interest in how the body can be both a site of projection and a subject of empathy.

He received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and his MFA from Montclair State University.