Visitors to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts can now see an incredible new mural by one of Houston’s most iconic street artists.Mario Enrique Figueroa, Jr., known as Gonzo247, debuted his piece, “Houston is Inspired” on Friday, December 12. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis piece is all about capturing the energy that makes Houston, Houston,” said the artist in a statement. “It\u2019s that raw, vibrant hustle \u2014 the music, the culture, the stories we\u2019ve been telling for generations. I wanted to create something that pulls people in, gets them hyped for what they\u2019re about to experience. Every color, every shape, every detail is telling a story, a vibe. This ain\u2019t just a mural or a piece of art \u2014 it\u2019s a journey. It’s about the grind, the growth, and the inspiration we pass on to each other, on and off the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The piece is called “Houston is Inspired,” after the program at Hobby meant to showcase local performers by offering them week-long residencies on a prestigious stage. This season includes CJ Emmons’s one-man comedy musical show I’m Freaking Talented; a rhythmic interactive storytelling experience called Our Road Home by Jakari Sherman; and Lavanya Rajagopalan’s combination of music, dance and verse, K\u0101vya: Poetry in Motion. Information about all three shows, including ticket prices and availability, can be found at TheHobbyCenter.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n The last show (debuting May 1) was a particular inspiration to Gonzo247. Viewers may notice a pair of hands in a traditional Indian dance pose, a direct reference to Rajagopalan’s show.<\/p>\n The Houston is Inspired program was launched launched in the 2023-2024 season. In addition to the residency in Zilkha Hall, artists are given a $20,000 stipend for production and marketing costs. It is now a permanent fixture of the Hobby season. Applicants for future seasons can submit here<\/a>. <\/p>\n Known for his original “Houston is Inspired” mural<\/a> in downtown’s Market Square, Gonzo247 has been an active force in Houston art for 30 years, including producing the video series Aerosol Warfare about the street art scene in the 1990s and 2000s as well as founding the Graffiti and Street Art Museum. He also served as the artist liaison<\/a> for Meow Wolf’s Houston installation. If anyone’s visual vision is perfect to welcome audience members to shows highlighting homegrown talent, it’s him. <\/p>\n \u201cArt\u2019s all about telling stories, but it ain\u2019t just what you see \u2014 it\u2019s what you feel,” he said. “This piece speaks to the heart of everything we\u2019re about: culture, rhythm, struggle, and triumph. When you walk into the space, you gotta feel the anticipation, the energy building up. That\u2019s what I wanted to capture \u2014 the vibe of the whole city, the passion in the work, and that next-level hunger to rise up and create something fresh. It\u2019s like the beat drops, and everything just connects.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visitors to the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts can now see an incredible new mural by one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[993,42190,56,58,57,32065,5657],"class_list":{"0":"post-89122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-downtown","9":"tag-gonzo247","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-mural","14":"tag-visual-art"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}