“I want my artwork to resist this moment we’re in,” says Apollo Rios Lomba of Providence, who identifies as a Black Latino and transmasc, and created the cover for this issue. “Those and other identities will not change. They’ll just get stronger,” he emphasizes, referring to the White House’s continuing attacks on gender equality.
His cover was inspired by Black History Month and love, Rios Lomba relates. Using soft textures and bright colors, the artist drew different poses of muscular figures, with one carrying another for instance, that don’t necessarily show gender. “I also put in intimate and supportive touches,” he says.
The lifelong PVD resident expounds, “When drawing, I want to make a piece that reflects my identity one way or another, a piece that I’m rooted in.” What Black people are wearing, and what Latino people are wearing, also figure into his artwork, he adds.
Epic fantasy is also an element in Rios Lomba’s work. “I’m a big nerd,” he says, mentioning that elves and orcs created by author J.R.R. Tolkien are featured in some of his art. “But I make them more modern,” he points out. For example, some of his elves are wearing overalls and crocs, while some of his orcs are nattily attired in tuxedos.
The artist is inspired by the work of Kehinde Wiley, who painted a near life-size portrait of President Barack Obama for the National Portrait Gallery. “I love the way he paints Black people. They’re wearing everyday clothes, but are so vibrant and elegant looking,” he says. The artist likewise admires the intricate patterns in the backgrounds of all of Wiley’s naturalistic portraits.
He cites the fashion magazines of the 1990s as another source of inspiration, especially “the playfulness of how the models posed.”
Rios Lomba was always interested in art. “As a little kid, I’d draw on the walls,” he recalls. While attending Classical High School on Westminster Street, he participated in the after-school art program at New Urban Arts across the street.
“It was then that I realized that you could actually pursue art as a career. For me, it felt like the natural thing to do,” the designer says.
And he’s never far from the high school or Urban Arts. That’s because he can be found behind the counter of the worker-owned White Electric Coffee Co-Op on Westminster. “I really love my co-workers, because I can just be myself and be accepted and valued. I also like the structure of nobody being my boss,” he explains.
As one of the youngest worker-owners there, he appreciates that his thoughts are taken seriously by his co-workers.
Fittingly, it was White Electric that put him on the radar of The Avenue Concept (TAC). Two years ago, he displayed his art on the walls of the cafe during August. He sold some of his artwork, and got noticed by the nonprofit public arts organization.
That led to his participation in the Ripples Project, which aims to add fifty utility box murals, six large-scale murals and a pop-up exhibit downtown. In 2025, Rios Lomba painted his mural Black Unicorn on the utility box in front of the Hilton Hotel downtown.
“There was so much art happening at the time,” he comments, noting that there were fifty artists involved with the Spring session of Ripple, and another fifty artists in its Summer session.
The visual storyteller earned a BFA in Communications Design: Illustration from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, in May 2023. He teaches design to high schoolers in the after-school program at DownCity Design on Cranston Street. “I really like showing them that there are art jobs out there for them,” he says.
The work of manga artist Hirohiko Araki has also influenced Rios Lomba. An avid reader of Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, he comments, “I love the way he draws characters. They’re jumping to life on the paper. And his use of color is striking.” He also admires Araki for drawing to “his own vision” which doesn’t necessarily fit into the typical anime style.
Rios Lomba is writing and illustrating a graphic novel titled SCUM. “I want to create my own kind of world,” he says. Several of his characters are featured in his Afropunk Art Showcase in mid-2025 at the TAC Paintbar Gallery on Lockwood Street.
“It’s coming along slowly but surely,” he says of his novel.
The visual storyteller enjoys reading horror, especially the fear-based and insanity-based stories of H.P. Lovecraft, PVD’s horribly imaginative author who was also a horrible racist. He’s read Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff which blends Lovecraft’s cosmic horror with the racism in the US during the 1950s.
Science fiction authors Frank Herbert and his son Brian are also on Rios Lomba’s bookshelves. “I like all the concepts of the Dune novels, especially the spin on the ‘chosen one’ archetype,” he says.
In a nutshell, Rios Lomba’s artwork is highly distinctive because of its elements of epic fantasy, its dynamic movement, and its bright chromatic colors. Perfect qualities for a cover as well as a gallery wall.
–John Picinich
Rios Lomba’s artwork, designs and graphic novel can be viewed at his website apollorioslomba.com