12 March 23-29, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Taking It From the Streets Dallas street artist Drigo makes a colorful gallery debut at Erin Cluley Projects. BY KENDALL MORGAN I n the hands of Latin artist Drigo, skate culture mashes up with mythology to a dreamlike effect. His is a universe of invented gods (known as “Travelers”) sporting the heads of nocturnal ani- mals as they worship the fauna of a candy- colored multiverse. Painted in a flat, graphic style, the sub- jects of the artist’s recently ended first-ever gallery show, Flowers in the Dark at Erin Cluley Projects, seem to embody an ancient ritual. Inspired by the Cereus repandus or Peruvian apple cactus, his work also refer- ences the experience of healing through ad- versity, a career theme for the artist otherwise known as Eric Gutierrez Rodrí- guez. Already well known around town as a muralist, the 29-year-old Drigo has made the most of his technical skill, creating an instantly recognizable visual language that has taken him from the walls of The Hill Shopping Center to Dallas art space Sweet Tooth Hotel, the 4DWN Skatepark to a Fort Worth parking garage. Combining ancient Mexican culture with New Age spirituality and modernist design, his work turns drab structures into otherworldly environments — a feat that can’t be undervalued when generic construction spreads over North Texas like dandelion seeds. The artist’s aesthetic is all the more reve- latory considering that he hadn’t planned a career in the arts. As a teenager, the passion- ate skateboarder began drawing on his grip tape and customizing his board to make it stand out. He signed up for his first art class as “a blow-off,” but it sparked a further urge in him to create. First, he decided to pursue graphic de- sign at Collin College after landing on the major to hone his T-shirt printing skills. By the time he earned an associate degree, however, Drigo had fallen in love with painting. He launched his career by asking strangers if they’d let him create a mural on an empty wall; by 2015, he was finally up and running. “That was a slow process; it didn’t happen quickly,” he says. “But by the time I started to do the Wild West Mural Fest, I started to get more emails, more commission requests and more serious gigs.” Brands also took notice of his work. In 2016, the lifestyle and clothing brand Zumiez invited him to create a mural in Ha- waii to promote its Converse Con shoe line. He also made imagery for Essential Water, Pacifico Beer and Samsung Mobile, among others, until the pandemic temporarily halted his street art career. Initially focusing on selling merch, Drigo also began creating paintings on canvas, sell- ing them as fast as he could make them. When Erin Cluley Projects director Nell Po- tasznik Langford reached out to him to pro- pose a show, Drigo was perfectly poised to take the Aztec-meets-futurism aesthetic to the fine art world. “It’s funny, because I think two months before Nell reached out to me, I was talk- ing with some close friends and telling them, ‘This is the year I’m going to get back into the gallery scene,’” Drigo says. “Murals are great, but there’s a lot of peo- ple touching your work in the metaphori- cal sense, like brand colors or themes or images you have to include. So, I’ve been itching to jump back into the canvas, where it’s your world, and there’s no one telling you what to do.” So far, the work has been well-received enough that he’s planning on other shows along with his “bread and butter” murals and gigs for graphic design. But in Drigo’s fantastical world, what he envisions often comes to pass. For example, he’s creating murals for the latest outpost of Meow Wolf in Grapevine. And he recently landed a gig to wrap cars with his work for his favorite water brand, Topo Chico. “It’s the only drink I would drink; I barely drink regular water,” Drigo says. “They started in Monterrey [Mexico], where some of my family is from. When I did Pacifico, because of the similarity in colors, I thought how cool it would have been if this was Topo Chico, and now I’m working with them.” Drigo has another dream in mind, one he’s putting out into the universe. Inspired by the likes of Diego Rivera and David Choe, he’s also influenced by the pop cul- ture crossover of Takashi Murakami, with everything from sellout shows to luxury brand collaborations. Taking his first step toward the latter, the artist is negotiating with the French fashion powerhouse Louis Vuitton to paint a mural in its new office campus in Irving. “I could definitely see that kind of trajec- tory, where I can focus on the studio work but also do brand collaborations,” Drigo says. “In an email I just sent them, a collabo- ration on their product is one of my asks. I just threw it out there, so we’ll see what they say ... I need to keep saying these things out loud: Louis Vuitton!” Dallas street artist Drigo portrays skate culture mashed up with mythology in his work, as in the piece “Growing Pains” (left). Justin Clemons ▼ Culture Kevin Todora West Village• 214-750-5667 • www.avalon-salon.com Spring Sale Up to 30% Spa Services Massage Therapy, Dermaplaning, Hydrafacials, and Aveda Signature Facials March 3 – April 10
