Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Richmond.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been making art for pretty much as long as I can remember. I started taking art lessons when I was a little kid, and I was incredibly lucky to have a wonderful mentor, Linda Regula, who helped me fall in love with painting. She saw something in me before I really knew what that something was myself. That early encouragement completely changed the trajectory of my life.
As I got older, art became more than something I enjoyed doing. When I came out as gay in my early twenties, painting became a way for me to process my own identity, vulnerability, and experiences, and eventually a way to connect with other people who were navigating similar things. A lot of my work has grown out of that desire to understand people and to help them feel seen.
Over the years, that has taken me in some pretty unexpected directions. I’ve painted portraits and figurative work, including figure paintings, created murals and community projects, taught thousands of students, illustrated hundreds of book covers, and somehow ended up making commissioned paintings for people like Dolly Parton and Troye Sivan. I’m still not entirely sure how that happened, but I’m very grateful!
These days, I think of my practice as a big, messy ecosystem rather than one neat category. There are serious paintings, playful paintings, community projects, teaching, activism, and then there are the Cheesecake Boys, which are basically my excuse to make grown men lose their pants for the sake of art.
I’ve learned that I’m happiest when I’m following my curiosity rather than worrying too much about whether something fits neatly into an artistic lane.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not! I think every creative career comes with its share of potholes, detours, and occasional signs saying, “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
One of the biggest struggles for me has been people wanting me to stay in my lane. Because I work in so many different areas – fine art, teaching, activism, murals, community projects, illustration, figurative painting, and the very important field of putting men in ridiculous underwear – I’ve sometimes had people assume that I need to choose one identity and stick with it.
For a while, I took that criticism pretty seriously. I worried that being known for one thing might make it harder for people to take the other parts of my work seriously. Eventually I realized that trying to make myself easier for other people to categorize was actually getting in the way of being the artist I wanted to be.
The different parts of my practice aren’t really as disconnected as they might appear. Whether I’m painting a portrait, working with young people on an anti-bullying project, creating a mural with a community, collaborating on Queertopia, or making a ridiculous Cheesecake Boys scenario, I’m interested in people. I’m interested in vulnerability, identity, connection, and what happens when we give ourselves permission to be fully ourselves.
So I’ve stopped worrying quite so much about staying in my lane. At this point, I think I’m more interested in building my own road – and occasionally driving the wrong way down it just to see what happens.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a figurative artist, but I’ve never been particularly interested in putting myself inside one little box. I’m fascinated by people – how we see ourselves, how other people see us, what we hide, what we reveal, and what happens when we finally feel safe enough to be ourselves.
That fascination shows up in a lot of different ways in my work. I create expressive paintings and portraits, commissions, murals, illustrations, and collaborative community projects. I also teach, and I love creating experiences where people can participate in the artistic process rather than simply standing on the other side of a velvet rope looking at something.
A big part of my work is vulnerability. I think there’s tremendous power in allowing ourselves to be seen honestly, and I try to create images that give people permission to do that. Humor is another huge part of it. I don’t think meaningful art always has to be solemn and serious. Sometimes a painting can make you cry, sometimes it can make you think, and sometimes it can make you laugh because somebody’s pants fell down. Ideally, I can make room for all of those things.
I’m particularly proud of the projects that have allowed me to use art as a tool for connection and change. My work with the You Will Rise Project uses art to help young people process experiences with bullying and find their voices. Through Queertopia, my collaboration with Briden Schueren, we’ve used art to explore queer identity, joy, resilience, and belonging while creating opportunities for meaningful community conversations. I’ve also loved creating collaborative murals that bring people together around a shared space and story.
And then there are the Cheesecake Boys, which started as a playful reimagining of vintage pin-up art and evolved into multiple adult coloring books, including Cheesecake Boys 2 and Cheesecake Daddies, along with paintings, prints, merchandise, and even coloring parties. The project lets me explore queer sexuality, body positivity, humor, and gender roles without taking myself – or the genre – too seriously.
What sets me apart, I think, is that I don’t see these things as separate identities. The serious work and the silly work come from the same place. I’m interested in helping people feel seen, connected, empowered, and maybe occasionally entertained along the way.
Any big plans?
The short answer is: I have no intention of slowing down anytime soon!
One of the things I’m most excited about is an upcoming solo show with BNude Gallery in Barcelona in October 2027. I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to bring more of my figurative work into that space and continue exploring the human body, vulnerability, masculinity, and connection through painting.
I’m also continuing to develop the community side of my practice – murals, workshops, Queertopia, and other projects that bring art out of the studio and into people’s lives. I love the idea that a painting doesn’t necessarily have to end when it leaves my studio. Sometimes it can become a conversation, a classroom, a mural, a collaboration, or a reason for a bunch of strangers to sit around coloring pictures of men in their underwear together. Art can take us to some pretty unexpected places.
I’m also continuing Brief Encounters, my live painting series on Instagram every other Tuesday. It’s a chance for me to paint a model in real time while talking about the process, the person I’m painting, and whatever else happens to come up. I love the spontaneity of it because it reminds me that painting doesn’t have to be a solitary activity. It can be a way to connect.
More than anything, I’m looking forward to continuing to follow the ideas that excite me. I don’t have a perfectly mapped-out five-year plan, and honestly, that’s probably for the best. Most of the interesting things in my career have happened because I said yes to something I couldn’t have predicted in advance.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://paulrichmondstudio.com/
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/paulyworld
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulrichmondstudio
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/paulrichmondstudio
