HCCC invited Houston graffiti and mural artist, Daniel Anguilu, to create a mural to be used as the title wall for La Frontera. Although the show was organized by Velvet Da Vinci gallery in San Francisco, the title wall is an original work, meant to complement and bring an additional perspective to the exhibition. Inspired by the works on view, Anguilu incorporated imagery from many of the jewelry pieces into his mural.
Daniel Anguilu started painting graffiti at an early age. Mostly using freight trains and walls as his canvases, his art is increasingly visible around his hometown of Houston, Texas. Anguilu has been invited and traveled to many cities in the U.S., Mexico, Peru, Spain, and Italy to paint graffiti and to participate in graffiti art exhibits. He has also visited Asia, Africa, and Central America to enrich his knowledge of pre-colonial art and the cultures in those regions. Anguilu’s style is deeply inspired by his Mexican heritage and mostly manifests itself as large scale, aerosol murals. Anguilu strongly believes in freedom of expression and the need to use this expression to decorate public spaces. His recent local projects include Skywriting (with Aaron Parazette) and Famous Monsters at Lawndale Art Center, and he has participated in group exhibitions at Art League Houston, The Station Museum, Cardoza Fine Art, the Orange Show, the Mexican Consulate of Houston, Aerosol Warfare Gallery, and Poissant Gallery. Through his conversations with Houstonians over the years, Anguilu has noticed that many people, whether involved in art or not, support his efforts to bring his art to public spaces.
Regarding the U.S.-Mexico border, Anguilu says, “Borders are made to be destroyed; it is us against them. We should all come together and build a border against ignorance. The truth is known now; there is no excuse for what they have done. They have managed to create a third world–a third world that is suffering, and we do not feel the connection with our brothers, and we keep building borders to separate us from us. We are all one; only greed keeps us apart.”
Above: Daniel Anguilu and Frank Nathen painting the “La Frontera” title wall. Photo by HCCC.
