From paintings of frenzied cartoon rabbits to comical TikTok skits of conyo culture, Raco Ruiz’s art attests to his lifelong journey of proudly embracing what makes him different.

Written by Andi Isaac
June 15, 2023

Raco Ruiz finds himself returning to surreal artistic visions from childhood. From paintings of frenzied cartoon rabbits to comical TikTok skits of conyo culture, Ruiz’s art attests to his lifelong journey of proudly embracing what makes him different.

Growing up with 90’s cartoons and animation, Ruiz was instantly drawn to experimenting with crayons and imitating what’s on the screen. Graffiti-themed notebook in hand, he doodled at the back of classrooms and illustrated for group projects all throughout elementary. His art teachers didn’t always approve—his drawings were too “cartoon-y,” nothing at all like the naturalistic standard in class. While discouraged at first, Ruiz was firm in his personal style. “I said, okay, if it looks too cartoony or surreal then I’ll lean into that. I’ll lean into what makes me fail to be like other artists.”

Ruiz graduated with a Communication Arts degree from De La Salle University before working in advertising. The lack of formal training only pushed him to teach himself how to draw and illustrate, learning from trial-and-error. It wasn’t hard to find inspiration everywhere or to pull from his current interests: “I make it a rule for myself—whatever excites me the most, choose that.”

He put his art out there by painting wall murals and tagging with graffiti, selling stickers and shirts at conventions, and sharing his art on Instagram.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ruiz turned to making short videos on TikTok for an easy laugh. It only took a few months to build a “racoverse” of characters, including fictional conyo boys Mike, Miggy, and Iggy, which poked fun at conyo culture. “My coping mechanism for everything is to make fun of it.” Audiences found his genre of meta-comedy surprisingly refreshing, evident in the page surpassing over 200K followers and 5.4M likes as of writing. The trick, Ruiz says, is staying true to one’s own brand and personality: “Being unapologetically myself, I didn’t think that many people would find my jokes funny or relatable. But when you put yourself out there, you realize how you’re not really alone.”

Indeed, the exposure helped to land him a place at NYMA, a tradigital talent management agency and production house. In May 2022, Kat Bautista, head of NYMA, discovered his videos on TikTok and saw his potential as an artistic talent. It was an easy decision for Ruiz to sign with the team, which took the burden of business and logistics off his shoulders, allowing him to focus on his creative work. Ruiz says his dynamic with talent manager Zeny Manguiran is essentially a partnership. Outside of NYMA, he finds support from his best friend and fellow visual artist Jappy Agoncillo, who Ruiz calls his own personal ‘Mr. Miyagi.’

A significant moment in his career was his first solo exhibition at Aphro at The Alley at Karrivin on September 2022. Returning to his childhood cartoons now weathered by adulthood, Ruiz’s RUINED show signaled an active refusal to grow up while recognizing the twisted animations that raised a generation. “It gave us character, and our childhood flavor,” he jokes. Ruiz painted cartoon characters in all kinds of fanatic states, surrounded by a backdrop of pink and purple fumes. Yellow eyes bulge and bubble up from their sockets; wild tongues seem to whip towards the viewer.

In “Recess,” the Trix bunny has cereal all over its tongue and mouth, joyous in its gluttony. On another canvas, Donald Duck reels in for a punch, acid-green spit spilling out in rage. To promote the show, Ruiz even took the extra step of fashioning a crazed bunny mascot, far removed from its original white innocence. “I love the idea of vandalizing it, intentionally ruining a perfectly good thing.”

Looking back on his childhood for the exhibit also entailed a return to painful memories, particularly a genetic condition. This handicap used to set him apart from other kids, yet also provided a different perspective in life. “In this show, I chose to embrace it. It’s not something you should be ashamed of, it’s something that you should own. The fact that I was born with something holding me back, I think that only gives me more hunger to push forward.”

Ruiz has also been able to collaborate with various brands this year. GOMO!, the country’s first fully digital telco, invited Ruiz to give the skate park at Ayala Circuit a makeover for its second anniversary last October 2022. The ramps and walls of the skate park were outfitted to showcase Ruiz’s vivid style of characters and icons, embellished with his preferred pink and purple hues.

JINRO Soju also reached out, making it the first time for the Korean brand to partner with a Filipino artist. Ruiz designed posters using the brand’s iconic green tone, combined with playful illustrations in heavy line art and vibrant pastel colors.

Between preparing for more art shows, building a growing list of collaborations, and making plenty of TikTok videos in 2023, Ruiz continues to rise in the field. Looking forward to what comes next, he says, “I’m manifesting collaborations with my favorite brands, and I also want to really get into hosting and improve myself as an entertainer.”

All this comes with being unapologetically himself. As Ruiz puts it: “The last thing you want to become is white noise in this world.”

Raco Ruiz can be found on Instagram @racodrawsstuff, on Facebook @RacoRuizOfficial, and on TikTok @Racobell.