Artist from Mexico completes colorful murals in West Texas
ODESSA — During his adolescence, Benito Mendoza volunteered to spray paint the symbol that was used by his neighborhood gang on the south side of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Mendoza told the Odessa American that he used that excuse as a teenager to exit gang activities and refine his spray painting craft.
As a 31-year-old, Mendoza estimated he has easily spray painted more than 100 murals in the United States and Mexico.
“I grew up in the south side of Juarez,” Mendoza said through translation. “It was a dangerous neighborhood and there were a lot of gangs. In my neighborhood there was a particular gang or group of people that controlled it. You had to mark your territory and that’s where I learned about graffiti.
“From there, it kind of took off. I started drawing and getting money for the graffiti and
I’ve been doing that for 15 to 16 years now.”
In his emergence as a muralist, Mendoza also adopted the pseudonym “Deko_uno.”
Mendoza said his artwork serves two purposes. The first is that he’s able to live comfortably off of his art. The second is to serve a social responsibility. Mendoza said he can go and do art in places that wouldn’t have art, especially low income neighborhoods.
Mendoza’s ideas about his artwork are also reflective from one of his biggest influences — Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Mendoza said Rivera not only produced quality artwork but it had a message behind it.
“I’ve read all of (Rivera’s) books,” Mendoza said. “(Rivera) had a lot of social responsibility and did a lot of social work.”
Mendoza recently completed his second piece of artwork in Odessa for Curbside Bistro coowners, and husband and wife duo, Alejandro Barrientos and Stephanie Barrientos.
The spray painting is a burger that features plenty of vibrant colors.
“I told (Mendoza) that I want your interpretation of a burger,” Chef Alejandro said. “He saw some of the pictures on our menu and he took a little bit of our inspiration, but the rest is his style. He merged our two worlds together, and I think it’s awesome.”
Mendoza completed the first mural April 23 on the front of the building.
However, Mendoza’s journey to Odessa took persistent outreach from Chef Alejandro.
While visiting El Paso, the Barrientos spotted one of Mendoza’s murals on the side of Kinley’s House Coffee and Tea, and they drove back around to snap a photograph of it.
The mural featured the face of a woman, a jaguar and an eagle. Chef Alejandro noticed Mendoza’s signature in the top right of the mural, so he began contacting him over social media to talk about an opportunity for a mural to be painted on the side of Curbside Bistro.
“Every time my wife and I go out of town, we use it as an opportunity to gather new ideas, check out other restaurants, check out other menus and check out the vibe,” Chef Alejandro said. “You hear a lot about places and you think ‘What makes it cool?’ People talk about Austin and Dallas and you get there and you ask ‘What are they doing here that is special?’ A lot of time it includes artwork.”
Mendoza currently lives in Guanajuato, Mexico, about five hours northwest of Mexico City. He is very particular about what projects he does because he doesn’t want to do anything too repetitive, which in turn could stifle his creativity.
He admitted he was eager to paint at Curbside Bistro because he had never visited Odessa before and the building was a blank white canvas.
“The whole ride over here I was thinking about what I was going to do,” Mendoza said through translation. “As I was driving in here, I saw the landscape that there’s nothing here. There’s no art. There’s no color. It’s just a desert. I know what this place kind of needs.”
Since Mendoza isn’t a U.S. citizen, Chef Alejandro said he has to send a letter to immigration stating that Mendoza was staying to complete his commissioned piece of artwork and then return to Mexico.
After Mendoza spray painted his second piece of artwork, Chef Alejandro was in talks with him about a third. Chef Alejandro said that he and a couple other business owners are attempting to put together a plan to have Mendoza do three murals over three days.
“I actually have to write a letter to show that he’s just coming to visit me and do some artwork,” Chef Alejandro said. “Right now, the immigration process is so strict. They always question if (Mendoza) is going to stay (in the United States) for good. Mendoza is an artist and all of his art is in Mexico. It’s actually a process.”