Ricardo Mazal was born and raised in Mexico City, the descendant of Sephardic Jews of Greek and Turkish origin. Ricardo did not attend art school; rather, he studied industrial design and became one of its leading proponents with a practice in Mexico City. In the 80s after an economic downturn in Mexico, Ricardo migrated to Barcelona to explore the practice of art. Ricardo has developed a practice of starting with photography as the basis for his paintings. The significance of location and its intersection with spirituality are key cornerstones of his work. Ricardo draws a lot of inspiration from music in his painting technique, describing himself as a composer while he creates on a canvas. Migrating to New York in the early 90s, he now splits his time between the City and Santa Fe, New Mexico.