These paintings are autobiographical. At the age of nine, he and his family moved to Venezuela. I learned a lesson from my father that rewards in life come from taking risks. I take that approach towards my art. Art and life are connected.
Art is the reflection of the process of life.
Protiva began to draw and paint as a child. He returned to the U.S. at 19, studying art at the University of Kansas until his education was interrupted by the Vietnam War. He served in the Navy in the Mediterranean, Cuba, Panama, and eventually San Francisco, where he settled. Caught up in the revelry of the sixties, he decided to devote himself to becoming an artist. There was a huge revolution of art and culture.