(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] Midwestern mural artist Mauricio Ramirez got his artistic influences from his family early.

- Ever since I was little, I always idolized my older cousins that were into graffiti, into DJing, and, you know, kind of into the whole, like, 1990, mid '90s, like, skate, rap culture.

You know, I kind of idolized it, so I felt that their creativity really sparked my interest in the arts.

(upbeat music) When I was little, I always enjoyed seeing some of the great artists kind of having their images move people and influence people, as well as uplift people.

And, you know, I admired that, so I kind of wanted to participate in that and emulate that.

The academic side of art never really sparked my interest to learn more.

And I know it's very ignorant to say, but, you know, at the time that I was interested in art, I was more interested in graffiti art and stuff that was being existed and being painted around the cities across the world.

- [Narrator] For Mauricio, trying his hand at creating graffiti inspired murals would change his outlook on art.

(upbeat music) - I chose to be a mural artist because of the impact that it has on the population of people, how it has a direct impact.

Mural making is far more impactful than having a painting sit inside a gallery, where it's only open from this hour to this hour, and you have to wait two years to even show in the gallery.

My entrepreneurial spirit brought me to figuring out how to get my artwork seen by people and stuff.

So, mural making facilitated that for me.

- [Narrator] Mauricio was living in Albuquerque when the city of Milwaukee began a search for an artist to paint the utility boxes downtown along Wisconsin Avenue.

- I looked it up, and I just kind of, you know, read the guidelines, and, you know, one of the things about that specific request is that they requested like a 20 to 30 page, you know, submission.

They just weren't looking for, you know, images or portfolio.

And so I submitted, and, you know, I told 'em my story about Milwaukee, and, you know, we both agreed that it was gonna be a good fit for the both of us.

(upbeat music) So the utility boxes represent Milwaukee's rich history and culture of commerce along Wisconsin Avenue.

So the individuals that I decided to depict on the utility boxes, you know, range from anywhere from Solomon Juneau, Byron Kilbourn, who were the founding fathers of Milwaukee, to the Native Americans who were here before them.

We have Vel Phillips that represented, you know, human rights, as well as Father Groppi.

And Santiago Calatrava, who was the designer for the Milwaukee Art Museum.

So, a lot of these key individuals really helped shape Wisconsin Avenue to what it is today, and I wanted to highlight those individuals along the boxes.

(upbeat music) The Crisol Corridor is a business improvement district in that area in the neighborhood, and it's on 13th and Oklahoma.

I think a lot of people are starting to understand that the impact of mural making, it reaches a far greater audience than just putting up a billboard.

Right now, you know, it kind of depicts, you know, some of the residential houses as well as the Hoan Bridge.

(upbeat music) Painting that mural of Selena was very therapeutic for me.

That day, we didn't have to necessarily ask anybody for permission in how to create the work or what we needed to create, we were just given permission to host the artwork on that building.

And, you know, we were free, we were truly creators.

We didn't have a gallery to tell us what to paint.

We didn't have city council or board, you know, group of board members to tell us what to paint and stuff.

So, it was truly everything that I had inside myself.

So, as well as having it being a gift to the city, the south side of Milwaukee, as well as rest of Milwaukee, but you know, specifically, predominantly, you know, Latino community.

(upbeat music) So the Cine Latino Film Festival reached out to me to initially design their poster, which I did.

And, you know, we started to brainstorm on cooler ways in which we could have a bigger impact for the poster and stuff.

And the image that I submitted was a portrait of Frida Kahlo in an updated painting style that features her in a geometric painting approach.

So, you know, picking Frida was very inspiring to me just because of this is my way to celebrate, you know, their heritage and their legacy.

(upbeat music) And the reason why I called it, you know, "Frida's Watching," is because, you know, I always looked at Frida as like a mother figure, someone very dominant, you know, very authoritative, and just kind of going against the grain and stuff.

Don't goof off, don't disappoint her.

(chuckles) She's watching.

(upbeat music) Some of the artists that really influenced me to continue to create artwork in this style is Diego Rivera, who, you know, was iconic mural painter, as well as Keith Haring, just because of how cool he was.

And basically, he was the first fine artist street artist that I was introduced to.

I think it was like '93.

You know, I find myself today in 2018 utilizing a lot of different tools to help create the artwork that I want to create and stuff.

So I'm taking methods from aircraft painting, from automotive painting, and trying to mix them up into fine art.

So that's why you see me with the tape spray paint, you see me doing other types of finishes.

It really comes down to what the artwork needs to serve.

I can remember times living in Albuquerque where I would produce my own murals.

And what I mean by that is basically fund the wall, fund the paints, fund the materials to create work that meant something important to me.

And right now on 6th and Copper in Downtown Albuquerque, there's a mural that I painted a couple months ago of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in union.

A lot of times, we see them separated as individuals, but, you know, a lot of their artwork really ties to the both of them and stuff.

So I decided to present them in union, actually kissing each other, which I thought was very romantic.

Whatever it is, try to be the best at it, you know?

Really enjoy it and fall in love with the work.

'Cause then after that, all the success is gonna come after that.

You know, I really enjoy painting, and I never really knew where it was gonna take me, but I knew I had this strong ambition, trying to be really good at it.

I'm a creator.

I don't think I'll ever stop creating.

Whether if it's paint, whether if it's, you know, music, whether it's a video, I'm always gonna be creating and stuff.

I think technology only tells what I'm gonna be creating in a couple years in the future.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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