"Los Elementos" or "The
Elements" earth, wind, fire and water,
1977.
Juarez-Lincoln University mural "Los Elementos," 16' x 80',
1977. Painted as always 'a pura mano pelona' with
expense money for scaffold rental and some paint. This
mural's prime location on the corner of Cesar Chavez St.
(then East First Street) and IH-35 garnered much attention
and much commentary. Always considering it the property of
the Austin community and that idea was reinforced when it
was destroyed in 1984. There were large protests held with
people attempting to stand in the way of the wrecking ball
and I'll never forget one woman left her car in the middle
of traffic and ran to the crane operator, passionately
telling him "you can't do this, you can't destroy this
mural!"
There was quite a bit of media coverage and they would ask
me: "what do you think of them destroying your mural?" My
answer was always: "that's not my mural, listen to what the
people are chanting!" You could hear the crowd of
protesters repeating: "you can't tear down OUR mural!" That
was enough to qualify my original intention that public art
was meant to belong to the public. "Los Elementos" had met
that criteria and the community had come to accept and
claim it as theirs. No one I heard said; "you can't destroy
this building."