1980s to Present- Murals - or Large Scale Paintings in Brownsville (part 2)

This is a continuation of the "1950s Era Murals - or Large Scale Paintings in Brownsville (part 1)" piece we did recently.  The main focus is the downtown historic district with a cursory view of locations "discovered" while driving around.  If you are a muralist with work in Brownsville please leave a comment to let us know you would like your work added to this blog post.

Let's take another look at some of Brownsville's earliest to recent mural work beginning with La Esperanza Home for Boys - Southwest Key program founded by Brownsville native Dr. Juan Sanchez in the 1980s to house undocumented and unaccompanied children entering into the United States across our border.  It is a large mural that wraps around the building's corner on E Washington and 5th St.  When I first noticed it was being repainted in 2016 once side (facing E Washington St) had already been complete and the side facing 5th St was in progress.  The next three photos are a better view of the completed restoration work 

Portraits of the original founders.

Vietnam soldiers in war, migrant workers and what may be civil rights activism, musicianship and educational advancement and the family unit.

The side facing 5th St was almost completely faded beyond recognition.  As we'll see, the artist's restoring the work might have taken the liberty of improvising which, if they did, did and outstanding job of it.  The original wall was "cleaned and sealed with white Latex paint mixed with matte medium."  

As we can see, with part of the right side of the mural missing from this view, the artist's had their work cut-out for them spread out on the 10' x 100' wall space.

This section shows concert goers facing the stage with musicians playing music.  Perhaps this side had to endure more exposure to the late afternoon sunlight which caused it to fade so much.  Also, the original artist probably used techniques which have since improved the life expectancy of murals.  Ten basic acrylic colors were originally used and mixed for the work and was expected to last ten years or more.

Fidencio Duran Brownsville Herald archive photo by Anthony Padilla 1985 November 24 

Fidencio Duran received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1984 from the University of Austin, Texas.  Today he is known for his narrative mural work throughout the state of Texas with artwork in private and public collections in the United States and abroad.  As an artist in residence from the Texas Commission of the Arts in Austin, he came to Brownsville in 1985 to instruct and supervise the arrangement of thirty-five students' artwork into a mural for the youth center.  Everyone was involved either by "priming, cleaning or painting"  Students were tasked with illustrating their perceptions of the local culture in "politics, economics, love and war" for example.  About six students did most of the painting with Duran who outlined their work, filled in the sky area with an airbrush, outlined large shapes and supervised the students who painted them.

The mural facing 5th St depicts Spring Breakers on vacation at South Padre Island center pieced by the blessing of a young Chican@ couple by the Virgin de Guadalupe as a reflection of the religious and cultural identities of the period.  The student actually got the idea from a t-shirt he saw but it fit-in with the narrative.  There was once a Mexican flag painted over the door which is now absent but the American flag to the right is in place.

Left to right:  Asaac Abally, Erik Aleman and Fidencio Duran are shown touching up the mural in this 1995 December 12 Brownsville Herald archive image by Joe Hermosa.

You can visit Fidencio Duran's webpage HERE!! 

Artist and Southwest Key employee 

The three unnamed artists who restored the mural in 2016.

"Always and Forever"

Homage to the great Esteban Jordan of Elsa, Texas who may not have been part of the original mural but deserves to be immortalized in the Rio Grande Valley

Jordan had a cameo in Born in East L.A." (1987)

Mural of 1910s Brownsville collaged from Robert Runyon photos on the side of the 1934 Nolan Block building on E Elizabeth and 8th (now Palm Lounge). It was done by Brownsville Art Muralists (BAM); a group of La Esperanza students and other BISD students supervised by Luis "Wicho" Guevara with city money and donations gathered with help of the downtown heritage director at the time, Peter Goodman. I once had a digital photo of it before it was removed but hope this 1999 photo by Joe Hermosa of the Brownsville Herald will suffice.

Nolan Block building mural on E Elizabeth and 8th - Carlos Fernando Aguilar

Brownsville local artist Gabriel Mendoza mural 2018 and 2021

Full sized view of mural at 901 E Levee St Community Development Corporation of Brownsville

Disney caricatures on E Adams and 9th St corner 

Before and after look of artwork on E Adams and 9th St corner with graffiti vandalism blurred.  A few years ago a group of artists gathered to paint individual art pieces on the sides of the Capitol Theater building .  Shortly after they were defaced and although the artists returned to repair the damage their art was again ruined.  It may be that Brownsville has too many hateful people within it that, as the colloquial saying goes, "we can't have nice things."  Other cities in the Rio Grande Valley have beautiful murals on a scale far exceeding what we have seen so far.  We have to prove ourselves as a city by rising above the ratchetness that works all day and night to bring us down.

Wall art on side of building on E 13th near E Elizabeth St

Good Neighbor Settlement House 1254 E Tyler  St

Parks and Recreation Department building on E Tyler St (wall facing E 7th St) and additional inserts of children's recreational area behind it

Wall art inside Fernandez Complex building next to Market Square 

390 ft wall for Rio Grande Valley Texas legends wall at Broken Sprocket by Alejandro Gonzalez a.k.a.  @popc_ulture  There are more artists doing outstanding work in the RGV -- far too many to mention here.  Harlingen even printed tour map for all their murals.

Photo by Mario Stanley Morales who has a webpage HERE

Mario Stanley Morales painted the "Give me some space" mural at the Brownsville Convention and Visitor's Bureau. He is one of the most established muralists in the Rio Grande Valley and has demonstrated a varied degree of skillful talent in the interpretation of his clienteles' vision for their homes and businesses.  Click on link above to see a wide range of his work represented on his webpage.

Teddy Kelley photo by Javier R. Garcia

The Teddy Kelley "BTX" mural on Capitol Theater on E Levee and 11th St was the source of discord for many.  I hope that future mural projects go to the best and most experienced artists the Rio Grande Valley and Matamoros have to offer.  If it expresses the local culture great - but as long as it appeals to the many rather than the few who expressed dissatisfaction with the content, style or colors used and the commissioning of this project.  Whether you like it or not, let's look  forward to the future and hope the best is yet to come.

The next artist chosen to do a mural is Mexican artist Sophia Castellanos.  I hope she is regarded with  respect and maybe one day our murals wont have to be ten feet above the street to deter the vandalists who like to deface our art.  Unfortunately, Ms Castellanos is familiar with that type of urban fringe as the sample below indicates.

Sofia Castellanos mural on wall of Warehouse 30 in Charoenkrung soi 32.Bangkok, Thailand