CHANGING PERSPECTIVES
Street artists gather in Houston to celebrate creativity, bring together the community in appreciation of graffiti
Growing up, Sam Molina didn’t even know street art had a formal name. He moved around a lot as a kid and remembers seeing murals on buildings in Germany, New York, North Carolina and Puerto Rico.
At 12, while living in Puerto Rico, Molina finally got the courage himself. He grabbed 10 cans of spray paint and set out to paint his first wall for the public to see.
“Later that night, I got home thinking, ‘ Yeah, I’m so cool. I painted something.’ Cops showedup to my door like 20 minutes later,” he said. “That moment I found out graffiti is illegal, and I found out what itwas called.”
On a muggy Saturday afternoon in Midtown, Molina, now28 and painting murals around the world, gathered with other international artists to paint on a vacant Houston building. The Meeting of Styles urban graffiti and mural art festival allows artists to show their creativity and mingle with peers. More than 140 artists are expected to continue painting on walls in Midtown, East End and Northwest Houston from sunrise to sundown until Sunday. The annual event started 15 years ago as a way to bring artists together. Since its creation, more than 200 such events have occurred around the world. This is the fourth year in Houston.
“Fifteen years ago, internet was around, but it wasn’t as popular, so it was a little bit harder for ( artists) to get in touch with each other. It was really important to help bring everybody together,” said Elia Quiles, co- founder of UP Art Studio in Houston and one of the local event’s organizers.
Alex Arzu, 32, didn’t see a lot of street art growing up in Houston. Now, he sees murals painted on buildings across town and thinks the festival can help promote street art even more.
“That’s what excites me about the Meeting of Styles,” Arzu said. “Even if it’s not so
“I think when you give people an outlet and give people a way to be creative, it’s going to improve the neighborhood.” Ed Lee, Heights resident
present and strong here, other cities and other countries can see what we do have. That will probably bring more of it here. I feel like Houston has been one of the last places to do it creatively.”
Arzu, a freelance artist who’s painted murals in the city, stood on a ladder Saturday to paint the top half of a large fly bathed in purple and red paint. He sweated through his longsleeved blue and white shirt in the September sun. He decided to paint the insect because most people don’t like insects, and he likes to change the way people view objects through art.
“A lot of my approach with my art is to change somebody’s perspective of something,” Arzu said. “Putting something harsh with something light.”
Ed Lee, 47, of the Heights neighborhood, milled about the festival in Midtown. A sticker artist himself, Lee appreciates seeing street art around Houston.
“I think when you give people an outlet and give people a way to be creative, it’s going to improve the neighborhood,” Lee said. “It’s going to improve the people.”
The graffiti artwork ranged in color, shape and size. One wall painted black had a vampire theme, and other artists used the wall to tag their initials in large letters with bold colors.
Molina, a professional artist in Dallas, worked on his initials using purple and white paint. He planned to spend most of Saturday working on his creation.
“The basics of graffiti will always be the tag and what you read out of it,” Molina said. “Having permission, we’re able to put up detailed work. Compared to illegal graffiti, you don’t have time to make a beautiful picture when you’re on the run.”