St. Pete is celebrated for its fabulous weather, beautiful vistas, world-class food scene, and thriving cultural atmosphere but the people of St. Pete truly make this city something special. In appreciation, each month Green Bench Monthly shines a light on one of the many people who make St. Pete unique.
This month our eyes are on local artist Leo Gomez. His beautifully hand-lettered signs can be seen at many of our favorite local shops including Black Crow Coffee, Beau & Mo’s, and The Body Electric Yoga Company. His murals, like “Hello Sunshine” in Historic Uptown and his 2019 Shine Festival piece “Sunshine on my Mind,” beautifully capture the spirit of the city while also illustrating his connection to the community he has adopted as his own.
From Colombia to Columbus
Born in the capital city of Bogotá, Colombia, Gomez loved art as a child. His grandmother and his aunt were both fine artists, and his family encouraged him to express himself visually. His love of drawing evolved from color-pencil creations at age 2 to the music and graffiti-influenced graphic art of his teens. At 15, he brought this urban-style artistic vibe with him to Columbus, Ohio, when his family relocated. The culture shock of the move from a population-dense, culturally diverse metropolis to a mid-size midwestern community was a challenge, but Gomez remained focused on his dream of a career as an artist. As he approached high school graduation, he applied and was accepted into the competitive graphic arts program at the Modern College of Design. In 2012, he graduated with a mountain of debt and a job with a leading design agency. Rising quickly from junior to senior designer, Gomez was off to a good start. By 2014, he was eager to strike out on his own so he could focus on doing “things he cared about” for “clients he clicked with.” He set a deadline and began to plan.
“There’s art here!”
On the search for a community with the right “vibe,” he briefly visited St. Pete in 2015 and immediately knew he’d found his new home. Gomez appreciated the graffiti art that filled Bogotá. Finding St. Petersburg’s emerging mural movement felt like an opportunity to return to a first love. Inspired, he packed a trailer and set up shop as a freelance hand-lettering artist. He explored, visited local businesses, and sold himself and his talent. Since those early days, he’s been widely and wildly successful. His hand-lettered signs, menus, apparel, and murals can be seen all around town; he’s also become a mentor to many younger artists as a classroom and on-site teacher. His body has paid a price for that success, and he spent most of the summer recovering from shoulder surgery. Rather than see this forced work-break as a negative, however, Gomez took this time to remember why he wanted to be a freelance artist: “to use the power of hand-lettering to communicate inspiring messages for our community.” He realized he didn’t have to say yes to everything. Instead, he is refocusing on projects that convey his connection to the community. That’s why his first major post-surgery endeavor was the Shine Festival’s community mural tribute to doctors, nurses, and other frontline workers that have braved the devastation of Covid-19 in which healthcare workers painted alongside him.
Find more about this mural as well as his other work at www.leogomezstudio.com.
