Public Art Collection

Public Art: Aztec Murals (Dupont St. Underpass at W. San Carlos St.)
1. Address:Dupont St. at W. San Carlos St.
  San Jose, CA 95126
2. Phone:(408) 793-4330
Categories:
1. Public Art

AZTEC UNDERPASS MURAL SUITE

Artist: Urban Aztec (Jesse Hernandez) (2020)

Jesse Hernandez, who also goes by his artist moniker Urban Aztec, brought his bold vision inspired by Mexican (Aztec/Mexica) and Native American cultures to the Dupont Street underpass (beneath West San Carlos Street bridge). The artworks draw on imagery and many powerful cultural symbols. With intention to honor and connect the community with the First Peoples, these four murals, comprising 3500 square feet, create a threshold to the past, through the lens of the present.

As part of the City’s Right the Blight pilot program (see below) Jesse was selected by a group of stakeholders and assigned one of the most challenging locations in the city. In the 80’s and 90’s this location was known in the Bay Area as the Walls of Fame because during that era it was where graffiti artists went to make a name for themselves. In the past 20 years, the art of graffiti has waned and technical virtuosity has mostly disappeared in favor of unskilled marking that does not reveal an aesthetic identity; walls that were once covered in interesting graffiti art became chalkboards for bland monikers that lacked the style and explosion of color of preceding graffiti artists. With this in mind, Jesse worked with the City team and met on site with businesses, residents, and youth who hang out at the site to help inform his design.

This project is part of the City’s Right the Blight program, a pilot beautification mural project developed as a result of the City tracking specific sites that are chronic hotspots for graffiti. Using tracking data from the City’s graffiti-reporting app, key hotspots were identified, and a dialogue began on how to mitigate them. This led to City Council-initiated funding to support bringing artists on board to create murals in these hotspots. The thinking is that when a mural of high quality – one that goes through a good community process - goes in, blight is reduced.

Enter local artist Urban Aztec who worked with the community to develop his suite of mural designs that honor the cultural heritage of a major sector of the San Jose’s community . This project, a chance to test the Right the Blight theory, has proven the idea works.

District: 6

Report a Concern: (408) 793-4330 or publicart@sanjoseca.gov.

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