Tomás Rivas earned a BFA and a post-baccalaureate degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. As an undergraduate, he received a Università degli Studi di Genova Scholarship to pursue Italian studies; while in Italy, he worked in Milan as a printmaking apprentice. He later attended the University of Notre Dame where he completed his MFA in sculpture. Rivas currently lives and work in Santiago de Chile.