Painting a brighter future
Co-founder of the Pow! Wow! mural festival uses love of art to raise awareness
Juan Carlos Araujo has had as big an impact as anyone in San Jose on what the city looks like. But he’s not a government official or developer — he’s an artist and gallery director who by his own estimate has helped coordinate 100 murals in downtown, Japantown and elsewhere in the city.
Araujo, a self-taught artist, started working with business owners to allow for murals on their walls in Japantown, where his Empire Seven Studios gallery was originally based. Then in 2017, he co-founded the local chapter of the Pow! Wow! mural festival, bringing in local and international artists to paint murals throughout the city. Araujo helped create murals including a massive work titled “Qualities of Life” by Spanish-born twins How and Nosm and a day-and-night themed mural on The Alameda by San Jose-based artist and illustrator Frances Marin Lopez. They’re now fundraising for the third year, this time with murals planned in downtown and south San Jose. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q What’s your process for funding and bringing in artists to do mural work in San Jose?
A My background, of course, is Empire Seven Studios. I’ve had a gallery for about 10 years. We lost the gallery to developers, and in the time that we lost our space in 2017, I initiated the efforts to bring Pow! Wow! San Jose, which is in collaboration with Pow! Wow! Worldwide. It’s an international mural festival and I’m co-founder and director of that event. And in the last two years I’ve been working with several partners fundraising and just asking everybody to help us because we get everything from cash, in-kind, to moral support. It’s a city effort and most natives that were born and raised here in San Jose have been not only helpful in helping us make the event happen and be successful, but also really just champion something like this coming to their city. Because for years I think we have had a lack of initiative for public art.
I really hope that our efforts influence and really inspire anyone and everybody who wants to do something for their community, to show them that they can do this. You don’t need me and I don’t need to do all the murals. I want to retire soon, so have at it, please.
QWhat are the challenges with straddling being an artist and muralist, but also a businessman and fundraiser to get these murals painted?
A Well, you know, I think for me, I definitely sacrifice my own art because if you think about it, I’m an artist, too. I’m a painter, so I could have painted all these walls. But I think many artists don’t think that way. They don’t think, let me give this opportunity to somebody else. Most artists want those opportunities for themselves. Q
There’s not that many walls people will let you paint on.
A Or people willing to put in the work. Sometimes I have to go years bugging someone for their wall, so it takes dedication, too, not giving up, you know, consistency. You have to show up. We can’t complain about things that aren’t happening without showing up and doing something about it.
QThere have been some complaints that not enough support goes to local artists. San Jose Inside found that more of the city’s art funding goes to out-of-town artists than local ones. Do you think San Jose artists are getting enough support?
AI think the local government agencies that have platforms for funding have contributed, but can contribute more. A good example for me is my projects. Once I’ve understood what it takes to do a project, I know that there’s not one grant available through the city of San Jose that could essentially pay for a project of that scale. Those opportunities are not available. So you have to piece it out, you have to do Legos and go get, you know, $8,000 here because that’s the max you can get, and then you have to go get another $20,000 somewhere else.
The system and policies, I think more so, need to change. That’s what I think. The policy in terms of how funding is allocated, at what point do we say this person is doing a tremendous amount of work, let’s give them a check. Do I really need to tell you I’m doing the work? And that’s a problem because it’s a system and that system is bureaucratic. And as artists, you know, it’s really hard to navigate that time to be bureaucratic and attend all these nonprofit meetings that don’t pay your bills, don’t pay your food. Q
As Google starts moving into San Jose, what do you want them to know about the local arts scene?
A
I think activism is something that San Jose has been a huge leader, in terms of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta and the [United] Farm Workers, UFW, that’s something major. You have athletes like John [Carlos] and Tommie Smith, who were at San Jose State University, and those guys were protesting basically to fight for human rights. Luckily, there’s a piece of art at San Jose State University, but other than that, we don’t have any other monuments. Again, our Chicano cultura here in San Jose is also very important.
I think more just really, not doing what everybody else does and that’s just set up a meeting to have this opportunity to say you’re coming and what are you really going to do? Who are you really going to embrace to help you steer your project?
QIt sounds like you see this art as a way to brighten streets and combat things like illegal dumping by making neighborhoods feel more welcoming and family-friendly.
AI think what I try to do is come to neighborhoods because this is an asset. [Premium Cutz Barbershop, which has a Pow! Wow! mural] gives free haircuts to kids. These guys are working every day, making people look fresh, making people look good. That is a service to our community. A barbershop. I am here to talk with the property owner to say, look, let’s do this because your business has kids and families coming up. But when we’re doing this, let’s have a conversation. Is your lease secure? What is your future plan for your landlord? If you’re going to paint walls, ask the important questions and don’t just paint someone’s wall. So a lot of the walls that you see, we’ve had this conversation.
I’m coming in here creating awareness, telling all these business owners that gentrification is coming and before it shows up, let them know we exist already, right? And that we called the shots and that when they come, you need to be part of that conversation. So it’s not just about art, it’s about us having that real conversation about the future of our neighborhood. Because we all have our business and we’re all comfortable until somebody says, I’m going to buy this and you’ve got to go and this is happening. So our culture is allowing me to go into the neighborhoods in order to prepare people to start having that conversation and get involved because I’m just coming here to paint, let you know it’s coming, prepare. Here’s some resources and let’s get to work.