Geoff Gouveia

I’m a big street art lover. Everywhere I go I’m looking for some murals. I show a lot of pictures of murals and write about street art on my blog ‘Jestem w lesie.’
I also express my passion through my site ‘Museum of street art’, where all kinds of street art meet together and create beautiful story. You can find there my collection of pictures of all murals that I saw.

Today, I want to introduce to you one of my favorite artist from South California that I talked to recently. Please meet Geoff Gouveia and his very original and beautiful works.

Diana Dyba: When and how did you start painting murals?

Geoff Gouveia: I started in 2012 painting murals in abandoned places around the city I live in (Riverside, CA). It was only after some run-ins with the police that I decided I should figure out how to paint during the day and legally. I haven’t looked back since.

When did you start treating your art as a business and buillding your own brand?

2014 was the first real year I began creating as a business. I was working in coffee prior to that and felt that the time was right to jump. The reality is that the time is NEVER right to jump and that you’ll get beat up in this world: but you get stronger and you learn.

As you said: „I create to connect with people”, what do you want to convey by your art?

I’m hoping to connect with my audience through the various positive themes that I love: hope and progress.

Whats your passion apart from art?

I love soccer (football) the most, as well as artisanal coffee.

How do you connect your love with soccer with your art?

I’ve combined those two passions to create for the game by weaving in figures doing the sport as much as possible. As I was studying other artists in art history, I noticed that many of them painted what was right in front of them: dancers, matadors…etc. Why not footballers? My audience doesn’t need to love football to enjoy my work, I just wanted a common theme that I love to permeate.

What is the most important thing for a young artist when starting own business?

My mantra is “Show Up Tomorrow”. And it means that in order to do well in this business (or life in general) is that you need to survive one more day. Can you create tomorrow? Can you look past the hardships of today to show up tomorrow? Because your peers will quit along the way- if you keep showing up…people will notice you.

 What kind of tips you can give somebody who tries to sell own art?

Same answer as above: tenacity.

Which art work was the most challenging for you and why?

I recently finished a mural on the ground in my hometown. I’m keen on painting more of these ground murals and I love the challenge it brings. It reminds me of when I first started painting murals- it’s back to being difficult again.

How do you develop yourself? What is your main goal?

I develop myself through constant sketching and reading about my craft. I try and do 30 minutes a day of each. Right now I’m focused on reading about figure drawing and then trying to put that knowledge into practice by drawing people in the coffee shop.

Are you planning visit a Europe (maybe Poland? 🙂 ) to paint a mural? Are you open for proposal from Europe? 🙂

I have always always always wanted to paint something in Poland. My mom is Polish and I thought it would be cool to do something in that country (Europe in general would be amazing to paint in.) I’m super down for a proposal.

geoffgouveia.com. instagram. twitter.

Diana Dyba