Chris Rivera
Contact
Chris Rivera
Instructor of Foundations & Digital Media
Education
- MFA, Florida State University
- BFA, University of Central Florida
Biography
Chris Rivera is a painter whose work focuses on the quiet power of observation, capturing everyday scenes with a thoughtful, contemplative eye. Originally from Orlando, Florida, he now lives and works in Murray, Kentucky, where he serves on the art faculty at Murray State University.
Rivera earned his BFA in Painting from the University of Central Florida in 2017 and his MFA from Florida State University in 2021. His work explores the subtleties of perception, using paint not just as a medium but as a way of asking questions. Each canvas becomes a kind of visual meditation—an accumulation of moments shaped by personal experience and the shifting lens of contemporary life.
Through slow, deliberate mark-making and careful attention to his surroundings, Rivera’s paintings encourage viewers to pause and look more closely. In doing so, they open up space for reflection, inviting us to reconsider the familiar and rediscover the depth within the ordinary.