Trinidad Mike Rivera
“The only person that can hold you back is yourself. Throw yourself into the deep end or you’ll never know what you can do”
Trinidad (Mike) Rivera, on advice for aspiring artists.
By Connor Forbes
Trinidad Mike Rivera is a bad liar… and a great artist.
When he was a kid, his mom, famed singer Jenni Rivera, always knew when he was pulling one over on her. He would start sweating and squirming. Overall panic would set in. And he knew he wouldn’t be getting away with it.
And sometimes, he hadn’t even done anything wrong. He just looked guilty.
His love of art started from a young age – reading comic books and drawing pictures. Though he didn’t know that art would be his calling in life.
Trinidad moved to Norco from Long Beach as a 10-year-old. Moving from the urban life to the rural was a culture shock, he says. And waking up to the smell of cow manure made him feel worlds away. And let’s just say, not his favorite smell. Yet one he now mourns has left with the dairy farms.
He attended Highland Elementary before moving through the school system to Norco Intermediate, and finally Norco High in 2006.
At Norco High, Trinidad was a bright student. He has fond memories of his time as a pupil there, the teachers, and of the cultural diversity to which he was exposed. Homework though, not so much.
He made quick friends with a group of graffiti artists whose prolific signings were well-known around the school, and with its administration. He was building a name and reputation for himself and his friends, Rivera says. And it worked. But not to his advantage necessarily.
One day he was blown away by professional muralists painting the original “Cougar Pride” mural. He saw himself in them and thought that he was doing something similar with his graffiti. And eventually that could be him, taking his passion for graffiti and making it legit. Well, once he had the confidence and put himself together, he says.
On a fateful day during summer school in 2009, Trinidad went to relieve himself in the restroom. The school cameras caught him in the general vicinity of a truck being tagged, and he was implicated.
Sitting in front of Assistant Principal Robert Ibbetson, sweating and squirming, sounding and looking guilty in a sweatshirt with his graffiti crew’s name on it, Trinidad was pinned for the misdeed. One in which he adamantly denies.
Trinidad says he learned the word “prolific” that day from Ibbetson.
Fifteen years later, Ibbetson doesn’t remember the specific incident, but says he would keep and study pictures of tagging. And while he appreciated the artistic component of it, he didn’t appreciate how tagging defaced the school. And Trinidad and his friend’s art was prolific throughout the school.
While Ibbetson always tried to connect with students on their level, Trinidad was sent home from school that day. And that precipitated the end of his career at Norco.
After Norco High, Rivera worked in reality TV. He starred in the show “I Love Jenni” alongside his family. After a couple more Reality TV series he found himself longing for something else.
Reality TV just wasn’t enough, Trinidad says. He didn’t feel proud of his work, and he was wandering around without any goals. Rivera was looking to find work he could be proud of.
During this period, Rivera was brought on to curate a couple of murals of his mom, who tragically passed in a plane crash in 2012.
One of the murals, painted in 2013, is in Corona on 6th Street across from City Hall. And another, painted in 2015, is in Long Beach. For both projects Trinidad was asked to consult on the murals and find artists to execute them. Though he was not the principal artist.
On the Long Beach mural, located at the now named Jenni Rivera Memorial Park, he was hands-on putting paint to the wall. Renowned artist “Downtown” Daniel Antelo who worked on the project told Rivera he was doing a good job. Antelo encouraged Trinidad to attend Los Angeles Trade-Technical College to study under the legendary Doc Guthrie, who was well known for turning taggers and graffiti artists into professional sign painters and muralists.
Growing up without a father in the picture, Trinidad saw Doc as a father figure. And growing up a son of a celebrity, he was coddled and guarded. But Doc gave it to him real and gave him a lot of tough love that he needed, Rivera says.
In an ironic twist of fate, after completing Sign Painting School in 2017, Trinidad’s first assignment was to touch up the original Norco High “Cougar Pride” mural that inspired him to follow the path to becoming a muralist in the first place. Of the 5 Norco High murals he’s worked on, it’s his second favorite.
His favorite? The Cougar eyes that he free-handed on the backside of the school’s entrance. And for many reasons. It pushed him past his comfort zone of letters, giving him the confidence to see himself as more than just a sign painter, but rather a full-blown artist. Additionally, it is above the very spot where he met his best friends and fellow graffiti artists when he started Norco High. Spurring his journey into art as a career.
And as for Mr. Ibbetson who would become principal in 2014, “I was so pleased to see Trinidad years later working on our mural at Norco High School. We took some time to talk about his journey. I encouraged him to stay the path because he has a real talent.”
“When Trinidad was working on the “Cougar Eyes” mural I remember watching him take the mural from a simple layout and sketch to a beautiful rendering. Being true to real cougars in the wild, Trinidad painted incredible green eyes. I approached him and asked him to make the eyes blue. He thought I was nuts but I explained to him how important Norco Blue was to the school and he understood. He changed the eyes to a stunning blue, with some small flecks of green!”
“Hearing now that he is the owner of one of the most respected mural companies in the region does not surprise me. I am proud of him and what he has accomplished. I know he enjoys what he does and really takes to heart the fact that he is a walking example of determination and success for students that may not see themselves as future professionals and leaders in our community.”
“Trinidad is, and will always be, a part of the Norco High School Cougar Family. We are proud of him and look forward to seeing more of his incredible work painted at Norco High and other high schools,” Ibbetson says.
Bringing his life full circle.
Trinidad is the owner of Boss Graphics, a mural company that has brought school spirit alive for more than 30 years. Rivera took over the company when the previous owner retired a couple of years ago. Find their work at www.bossgraphics.com or on Instagram www.instagram.com/bossgraphicsmurals.
In 2022 Robert Ibbetson moved to the district office to be Director of Career Technical Education.
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