The Mural project #elmeromuro
The Mural project #elmeromuro
Working at Mexic-Arte Museum has been a learning experience from grants, coordinating productions and over all keeping an art space that is non-profit running and relatively staying small as an operating budget.
My first BIG project has been over seeing the Artist in Residence project and Mural project for VIVA, the annual day of the dead festival the museum has been hosting in Austin TX since it’s start in the 80′s. This year marks the 35th year that found Sylvia Orozco and the rest of the Mexic-Arte Staff have created a festival that is culturally significant but also artistically avant-garde.
I first encountered KUNIKLO through a friend, I was instantly enamored with their sense of space and color. Putting together the mural project was not easy, but I think it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun looking back at how great and epic the mural is. Normally artist only cover one part of the mural but for this special occasion the museum allowed us to make a massive queen mural.
I asked the collective to create a mural for us based on the idea of Dia De Los Muertos and the idea of death as a transcendence. If they could possibly add some Alebrijes (since it was the theme of the museum’s festival this year) it would be great! The project could not have been done without the help of Paulina Dosal-Terminel and the staff and volunteers at Mexic-Arte Museum.
First we had Diego Mireles Duran, also an immigrant and RGV decedent like myself, set down the background. Diego had an amazing imagination and a feel for texture. Working WITH the murals numerous layers of paint and texture, he created a sort of gradient with neon spray paint followed with small shapes of zebra patterns. When I asked him about his inspiration Diego noted “I like inscribe intentions to call things into [the mural]. Since it’s day of the dead, I wrote down my ancestors names, my abuelito…the experience of commemorating them, thinking of them is there [in the mural].” Diego spent days working on finishing the backdrop of the mural, originally a orange and purple gradient turned into something much more, a spazz of color over a deep purple headstone.
Artist Jose Luis Sanabria (one of the founding members of KUNIKLO collective and formally known as Julo or Who) also traveled from San Francisco to finish the mural with his fantastical drawings. His work sealed Diego’s mural with images of creatures that were inspired by Alebrijes. Who is also a talented tattoo artist ( I tried to also get a tattoo from him but the mural swept up our time, guess I’ll make the trip to the bay area!)
We spent the nigh projecting Who’s drawings on the wall, having drunk tourists from 6th street spilling over to our project. We also had some issues with these new electrical scooters that are sweeping the nation.
A silly photo of us all!
The mural text reads: Thanks to life, which has given me so much It has given me a heart that shakes in its frame, When I look at the fruit of the human brain, When I look at the good so far from the bad Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto Me dio el corazon que agita su marco Cuando miro el fruto del cerebro humano, Cuando miro al bueno tan lejos del malo from the song "Gracias a la Vida" of Violeta Parra"
Kuniklo: @kuniklo_collective
Diego Mireles Duran: @fayeg0
Cheraya Esters: @cherayae
José Sanabria: @whotattooedyou
Luis Sanabria: @fruitylands
Olivia Warner: @tchochkeeeeeeee
Photos by Justin Kiene
