Less Isn’t More

Anthony Ricciardi’s infectious drive is due to his simple business and life motto: Do more. It’s one he’s had since college which helped him build the foundation for his insprational output today.

Written by: Andrea Rella Photography by: Andrea Rella

Less isn’t more you just have to do more. That’s the message Anthony Ricciardi has for aspiring creators if they’re to be successful. For him, it’s that simple because those aren’t just words but it’s how he’s always lived his life and one of the reasons he’s so successful. “I believe in the power of manifestations, but you have to put in the work in order for them to work.

You can’t just write it down then hope it’ll happen. If you really care about your dream, then it shouldn’t be unattainable as the struggle is a part of your journey which is why doing more is always the answer” The Toronto artist has built a community of admirers based on his signature hearts accompanied by motivational quotes like “Follow Your Heart”, ``Dream Big”, “Enjoy Each Moment’’, or “Love Over Fear” amongst many more.

It’s hard not to tell that those are some daily affirmations he keeps as he’s such a positive, charismatic person. “It all comes down to gratitude. I know how lucky I am to be in this position doing what I love so even on the day’s where I’m going through it, I know it’ll be okay because life’s good.” That attitude has helped him land some murals for resorts across the world, paintings for celebrities, countless art exhibits, and even an installation and interactive art gallery in Toronto’s Yorkdale mall. He’s dipped his brush into fashion with custom jackets in collaboration with “Dust of Gods” and recently, he got into jewelry with his company called Every Heart. Always having a passion for art but never thinking it was a viable option, he kept it as a hobby and pursued other interests like baseball and finance. He was good enough to spend his college career playing Division 1 baseball in the States as a pitcher while studying finance. Between his intense schedule with athletics and schoolwork, it didn’t leave him much time for anything else but he rose to the occasion and hustled harder which built the foundation for when he graduated. He came back home to Toronto, got himself a finance job, and created a successful pitching school all while continuing to pursue his hobby of painting with whatever time he had left. It was in his parents’ greenhouse that he conceived the idea of his signature heart without even knowing. “I’d come home after working my finance job demoralized but then I’d paint these hearts on the walls and say, if I follow my heart good things will happen. It kind of just spiraled into what you see today”. Like any origin story the beginning was challenging because he wasn’t getting paid for his art and even when he was asked to do commissioned pieces, he had to turn them down because of his finance job. Until he got to a fork in the road and against the advice of the people closest to him, he decided to leave his job to pursue a career in art. The fruits of his labor were finally paying off as he was seeing his “follow your heart” mantra start to come to life.

“You have to put in the work in order for your manifestions to come true. You can’t just write them down and hope they’ll happen.”

Most times that’s the answer; just following your heart and trusting your intuition even if it doesn’t make sense to others. After not coming from a traditional art background, the judgment from others naturally came, but he doesn’t necessarily see that route as critical for

an artist. “School could teach you the techniques but it doesn’t necessarily translate into a career in art because they’re teaching you what they think is right. But art is so subjective so what’s right for you, may not be right for me. I’m an artist but I took business in school.” For Anthony, a traditional route isn’t needed but what is needed for his personal evolution is to constantly push himself and being uncomfortable. Those feel more attainable to him than setting goals because “the goal posts keep moving” so adding something extra is a practice he keeps. Knowing what he’s trying to achieve bi-weekly or monthly is important but it’s harder to think any further than that. That “do more” mentality has bled over into his personal life with his wife and young child. Because of his busy schedule there’s a chance that he would miss out on important moments, but he curbs that by involving them in everything he does, “This is what I’ve always wanted so it all comes down to gratitude.” His family understands his business so there’s no misunderstanding when it comes to intentions. Understanding the value of hard work, balancing family time and his business, he makes no excuses for when things are slow. “When nothing’s working for whatever reason you have to have enough self-awareness to pinpoint that time period where you weren’t working very hard because it’s like a domino effect.”

Complacency is at the route of the victim mentality in the creative industries because there are so many ways to approach a scenario that you could get caught up in the what-ifs. What we’re realizing with social media is there’s no perfect execution, you just have to “throw as many sticks in the fire as you can otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for excuses”. Ricciardi named his first art gallery “Less is more” as a play on what people kept telling him when he was running his pitching school, working in finance and painting. He doesn’t like excuses and he’s living proof that it can all be done if you don’t make excuses.

“Motivation doesn’t always come so sometimes I’ll do something else to exercise that creative energy, but I’ll never stop.”

Which is why he isn’t here for the people that say they’re burnt out but claim they have a passion for their work. “If you’re really passionate about it, how could you be overworked? The way that I get through it is by pushing through the mental block. Motivation doesn’t always come and sometimes I’ll do something else just to exercise that creative energy, but I’ll never stop.” Creativity comes in ebbs and flows but if you consistently work through that energy, it’ll become more fun and less task-like. Your ability to examine and not dwell is vital to success since, in this digital age, everything is so fast paced. Nothing good comes easily but Anthony puts it simply, “The people who’ve made a name for themselves are always going on record saying it wasn’t easy. It took countless hours and years to get to where they’re at. Isn’t that the answer?”

Anthony working on a custom piece

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