Watch for Riko
Follow Riko Rivera on Instagram @chilangofine for updates on his public art installations and tattoo business. Call (805) 354-8116 with questions.
Picture Mexico City in the early 1990s. It was loud, bright, and colorful.
Hand-painted windows and signs lined the busy streets that Riko Rivera walked along with his mom, his wondrous eyes staring back at him in reflections. “Who painted those?” he’d ask aloud.
Rivera spent the first five years of his life in the capital.
“And when we came to the United States, there was a lack of that,” Rivera told the Sun one afternoon sitting on a couch in his Santa Maria home.
However, artistic seeds were planted so deeply in his mind, he knew he had no choice but to create.
That date still hasn’t come.
‘It just goes full circle. I remember when the [center] recently opened, and now to be able to have my own art installation there, it’s in my wildest dreams.’
—Riko Rivera, muralist
So, Rivera brought some of the Mexico City flare to his new home. His next project is a mural at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center. He took input from local kids for the design, which has already been approved. He’s ready to get started painting as soon as possible.
Rivera described Santa Maria as his cradle. His family settled in town after spending one year in LA. It was only supposed to be for a little while, with the promise of returning to Mexico in the near future.
Of all the utility boxes, trash cans, and walls he’s painted around town, this one has special meaning.
“It just goes full circle. I remember when the [center] recently opened, and now to be able to have my own art installation there, it’s in my wildest dreams,” Rivera said. “Literally in my wildest dreams.”
He enjoys working with the city because the goal isn’t to make a statement, it’s to make community members smile as they navigate their lives. Though he respects political artists, that’s just not his lane.
Art was always his escape. Rivera’s family lived in a trailer park. Limited resources. Little to no traveling.
Opportunity came from the movies he watched and drawings he created. The artist wants to leave people with similar positivity.
“I’m a trans immigrant. My whole life is a protest at this point,” Rivera said. “So, I want my art to take people somewhere else. I have a lot of happy stuff.”
One of his favorites is a utility box at the corner of Preisker Lane and Broadway that he painted in January 2025. It sums up the city pretty well with just a few images. He’s learned that in art, less is more.
Rivera saw comments on Facebook praising the design, a rare social media thread free of argument. Instead, people were having conversation about their tight-knit community.
“All it is is a barbecue pit, some palm trees, a really cool sunset, and a lowrider. That says Santa Maria, without even saying Santa Maria,” Rivera said.
Rivera wants his public art to help adults disconnect from stressful situations and reconnect with themselves. Everyone is caught up in routines, going to work and paying bills. People need a break.
Reaching youth is important to the muralist, too. Rivera never knows when his work might inspire a kid to follow their dreams, like the paintings in Mexico City inspired him.
When Rivera’s not coloring empty walls in Santa Maria, he might be giving art lessons to kids at summer camp. The professional has lent his guidance to Youth Arts Alive and camps at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where he’ll teach this summer.
“I’m about to get teary eyed because the fact that I’m able to work with organizations that see the value in kids having that outlet, it’s just a blessing on top of a blessing,” Rivera said.
When he was in school, as soon as a quirky, eccentric art instructor walked into Rivera’s classroom, relief flooded his young mind. Whether it was half an hour or an hour and a half, to Rivera, it felt much longer. He didn’t have to worry about trying to decipher the English he didn’t fully understand. He could just draw.
The art classes he leads in the summer are free for families. He views them as an important supplement, especially because arts programs are usually the first to go when schools cut budgets.
Giving kids time to experiment with creativity is most important. Rivera hopes kids understand that there’s no wrong way to make art. He believes once they internalize that, the possibilities are endless.
“By no means am I a teacher, because what I love the most about art is that there’s no proper way to do it,” Rivera said.
Among the media he’s dabbled in are painting, photography, wood burning, cooking, and tattooing.
Rivera makes a living as a tattoo artist out of his home studio. There’s a ritual to getting tattoos, and he’s fascinated by what the ink represents to each person.
“Honestly, it’s seeing people go through their rite of passage one way or another, seeing people either mourn or grieve or celebrate or put themselves through that next step,” Rivera said. “I get a lot of first-timers. I get a lot of matching tattoos.”
Being part of people’s special moments is an honor to him. At the end of the day, he wants his art to make the community happy, the feeling other artists left him with decades ago.
Except now, Rivera’s the one painting on the glass, looking into the eyes of the next generation through the reflection.
Reach Staff Writer Madison White at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 14 – May 21, 2026.