Meet Joseph Giri | Painter, Sculptor, Muralist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joseph Giri and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joseph, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
We all come from different backgrounds and educational experiences. I grew up in Atlanta for half my youth and the rest in a small town in Alabama. For me it was crucial to seek out a place for the greatest chance of opportunity to learn and grow. After working my way through college, I got my first commercial Art job in Birmingham, designing and building Visual merchandising props for Parisian department stores. This was a great place to learn how to work on big projects quickly. After a couple years of that, I went freelance and started working for local Ad agencies and photographers doing Photo styling and props for their projects. After one year of that I decided to move to Los Angeles. That was what eventually made all the difference. I never even considered being a muralist till I lived in LA. Public Art was a great fit because it combines all my skill sets of building, designing, and working on large scale projects.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Fortunately, I’m multi skilled, I don’t just do one type of Artwork, or one type of style. Early in my career, I had a Gallery owner looking through my portfolio and he took great umbrage at the fact that there were series of different subject matter, some stylistically different than others. The bottom line is, his posh gallery went out of business in a few years, and I’ve continued making a living as an artist for decades. Later on, seeing a retrospective of David Hockney’s work or Picasso, it was plain to see that working in wildly different styles and subject matter was part of the evolution of their growth and what kept them interested in continuing to create.
So, just like disparaging college professors, you can’t base your personal worth on the opinion of a so called professional.
Two sources of inspiration continue to propel my work to this day. Music and the African American impact on our culture which can’t be overstated but always is. I love the history of music and how African Americans invented Blues, Jazz, Soul, Rock and Roll, Funk, Disco, Bebop, Rap, Hip-hop and more. Music has always been as crucial to my daily existence as art, and there’s endless inspiration to be found once you start looking into the history.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As a kid, unbeknownst to my parents, I’d ride my bike all the way down Peachtree Street from Chamblee to Downtown. I love the Architecture combined with green spaces. The large public artworks/sculptures, the layers of the city. You can’t go wrong visiting the Merchandise Mart complex downtown with so many showrooms of all kinds of designer works. I’ve done freelance work there.
Piedmont Park will always be dear to my heart, and I love the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, especially their Christmas exhibits.
Having the Chattahoochee River flowing so close to town is also unique to Atlanta and a welcome escape when needed.
I’m really into antiques and collectables so I often go to Scott antique market in Jonesboro when they have that once a month. So many nice people there and lots of place to eat.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The one year I attended Chamblee High School in Atlanta before my family moved to Alabama. I had the good fortune of being in the Art Class of MS Nancy Coleman. She opened my eyes to my own potential and lit a fire that carried me for decades. When I learned we were moving away, it was like being torn away from your mother’s arms. While in her class I could clearly see my future. Leaving Atlanta made the path much more difficult, but her inspiration was implanted permanently and I’m thankful for that.

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