Joe Cavallaro was lucky enough to study art at RISD and semiotics at Brown.

He worked and exhibited in New York through the 1990s, represented by Feature Inc., where he had two solo shows. He was assistant to Saint Clair Cemin and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and worked with gallerists Andrea Rosen and Simon Watson. In 1995 he received a Tiffany Foundation grant. His work is in the permanent collections of the Walker Art Center and the Weatherspoon Museum.

He moved to San Francisco in 1997 and began to freelance at Gap corporate while continuing to exhibit through 2003. His corporate creative career advanced and through almost two decades led large in-house creative teams for major American retailers — a surprising and rewarding chapter.

He now lives and works in Los Angeles, finding that he still believes beauty is good manners.