(The Gate/Sonya Eldridge)
When a mural popped up on 47th Street a few weeks ago, I had to do a double take. Were the artists who painted the new public masterpiece local? What inspired them? Would they be painting more murals in the neighborhood?
These and other questions swirled around in my mind when I noticed the artists had painted their phone number and names “KOZMO” and “MATR” on the lower-left hand corner next to brightly colored eyes.
I called the number and was pleasantly surprised when Manuel “MATR” Macias invited me to meet he and his wife, Brenda “KOZMO” Lopez at their studio.
Hidden in a nondescript building along 48th and Hermitage across from St. Joseph’s Parish, the studio’s walls were covered with vibrant pieces of art.
Lopez and Macias said they are planning to paint more murals in the community, and in the process, are hoping to connect with more artists in Back of the Yards. They’ve recently completed murals in Pilsen and Little Village and have also done work in Logan Square.
“We started that wall [on 47th] with hopes that we could get more spots and maybe see more artists come around,” Lopez said.
Lopez and Macias said they work differently than most other muralists and prefer the old-school method of using paint and brushes.
The husband and wife duo paid for the mural of out of their own pockets, picking up cheap buckets of paint from Swap-o-Rama and Home Depot whenever they could.
Macias’ style is based in realism and Lopez in pop art. For their murals, the pair likes to combine both of their individual flairs to create a harmonic blend of their two styles.
“When I come up to a wall, I’m random,” Macias said. “I’ll look at my colors and kind of see what I got. I don’t really plan it out, sketch anything out…I kind of just screenshot a bunch of photos I like, and then when I run up to the wall I just kind of look at all the stuff that I have and just make something up as I go.”
And that particular day, Macias said, he decided to paint an astronaut and left the rest of the wall for Lopez to do her own organic, funky background of billowy clouds and brightly colored eyes.
The young couple spent about $400 of their own money to pay for paint, brushes and other supplies and worked for two full days on their masterpiece.
Macias and Lopez said they hope to play a part in beautifying the community by bringing more murals to the area.
“Just like music, everybody loves seeing something on a daily basis that adds some color to their day,” Lopez said. “Whether it’s for a few seconds on your way to work, or on your way to just do what you have to do every single day, it always makes a difference when visually you have something that [is positive.]”
And they’ve mostly received nothing but positive feedback from the community.
“We had so many people thank us for painting the wall, and I’m like, ‘why?’ And they’re like, ‘because you guys made it look beautiful and more welcoming,’” Macias said.
But the pair has spoken to some business and property owners who have been hesitant to allow them to paint on their walls due to the longtime perception that graffiti art and murals might somehow appear gang-related.
“They’ll just have to keep on seeing [art],” Lopez said. “They’ll become curious, and they’ll hear other people talk about it, maybe in a positive light. Art kind of just speaks for itself.”
The husband-wife duo is planning to open a tattoo shop in their studio in the coming months.