About Anthony Riker
An artist skilled in many mediums including pastel, oil, ink and charcoal, Anthony Riker is highly praised for his portrait paintings that blend realism with whimsy and imagination to capture the soul and spirit of his subject. While working generally from photos, his work is not a straight ‘photo-to-canvas’ transfer. Beyond the unbelievable realism and likeness, what sets Anthony’s work apart is how he can incorporate other elements into his pieces to create a new world for his subject.
“Rather than capture just a photographic likeness of a person, my goal is also to capture their essence – the twinkle in the their eye, the depth of their soul, their sense of hijinks or humor – whatever it is that makes them unique . Beyond the classic portrait, I love creating something new for my subject, removing them from the constraints of time and space – placing them on a hillside they have never visited, in their childhood home as an aging adult, or in a mythical or supernatural world they have only seen in their dreams – blending the real with the imagination.”
While Anthony showed incredible promise as a young artist, winning numerous art shows and competitions during his formative years, he lacked the necessary support system both emotionally and financially to pursue his passion as a career. Instead, Anthony has applied his love of realism design to become a leading civil engineer at a nationally-recognized engineering firm.
While Anthony built his engineering career over the last 20 years, art was simply a hobby for him, something he did in his spare time, which was few and far between with the 12 hour work days that accompany a job in the engineering field. But, in 2010, a profound life-change inspired Anthony to bring out his easel and start painting again – and how lucky we all are for this!
Anthony now blends fatherhood, a full work schedule, and a blossoming painting career in stride. Having recently completed several pastel portrait commissions, he has a regular flow of commissionable work to keep him inspired and focused on his true artistic gift!