Joe Pimentel

I was born in White Plains, New York and at age 8 moved to the Hudson Valley, New York where I continue to reside to this day. I have been drawing since I was 4 or 5 years old and was fascinated by comic books and cartoon animation. Both of my parents were from artistic backgrounds and gave me a basic understanding of drawing shapes and using color. I was continuously drawing throughout my childhood and into my teenage years, first copying cartoons and comics and later creating more free-form, abstract work that was influenced by Grafitti Art and Surrealism. As I advanced and learned more about other artists, I became influenced by Dondi White, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, M.C. Esher, Picasso, H.R. Giger, and Robert Crumb to name a few. I didn’t know I wanted to follow art as a career until my senior year in high school. At that time it was clear that creating art was an essential part of my everyday life and my notebooks were constantly filled with drawings. I made it a goal to attend art school after graduation to better my understanding of art and design.

In 2005, I became a Parsons School of Design graduate in Fine Art Illustration. Throughout the ten years after graduation, I freelanced for several clothing companies, worked as a Graphic Designer at a print shop and a lighting fixture company and took on various odd jobs while continuing to produce art, have shows, and explore a wide variety of mediums and subject matter. In 2010, I had an opportunity to take part in an Artist in Residency program in Bali, Indonesia for 3 months under the direction of an incredible artist, Dewa Nyoman Batuan, who specialized in Mandala paintings. The experience of Balinese culture coupled with the teachings of an artist who had truly mastered his craft, created a life changing impact on my process and pushed me to another level of dedication and focus with regard to making work and exploring inspiration.

In 2016, I left a position as a Graphic Artist to find a more effective way of applying my creative skills to a job that I could feel passionate about. I had extensive experience working with children as a substitute teacher as well as a Teaching Artist. I had been part of the Artist in Residency Program for a number of elementary, middle, and high schools where I created collaborative murals with students. Painting murals opened up a whole new world of possibilities and became my professional focus. I established my own business, Pimentel Murals, and built a following by first completing projects locally and then extending to other areas in New York, New Jersey and Long Island. Through social media and word of mouth I have continued to extend my outreach to numerous schools and have completed over 100 murals to date with a wide range of themes, styles, and various degrees of involvement from students from 1st through 12th grade. I look forward to continuing on this path working with students, exploring the power of imagination, and helping young artists feel inspired by working together to make amazing projects come to life.