Fleeting Capture: Roy the muralist

San Ramon exists, a city of plaster, concrete and corrugated tin. It is everywhere, whether on houses or the numerous screen walls that shield many inner sanctums from the bustle, and perceived dangers of the street.

Roy exists, thriving on these walls of concrete and plaster. His mark is everywhere.

Roy is a true graffiti artist, or as I might endeavor to suggest, a muralist in the graffiti style. His work is everywhere around town, providing a surreal imagery on otherwise drab exteriors. Any concrete wall is his canvas. I was enthralled with these when first seen three years ago, and that has not diminished in these years since. And on this trip, on my first morning walk, I ran into him near our hostel, having started a mural on a nearby wall. Over these past two weeks, I have witnessed the image expanding, a happy image of a girls face and a smiling toucan (I am certain they don't smile, but just look happy), set in a tropical background. Some of his images are a bit haunting, surreal, others uplifting and full of a story.

Caty interviewing a relaxed Roy describing little of his Guanacaste heritage

So Jenna and I paused our walk as we passed, and I asked "Roy?"

"Si!" with a faint smile.

All I could say, over and over, was "bueno, muy bonito!" I needed to know more. He speaks no English, but his appearance speaks volumes as an artist, and not a stealthy, fly-in-the-night graffiti tagger (for I think he could not run fast enough into the shadows). He is unkempt, frumpy, his worn clothes drooping on his wiry frame, his eyes hidden by sunglasses even on this cloudy day. The very image of an artist. A few days later, I again spotted him on my walk back to the Hostel, so I brought Caty back to extend my conversation.

With his three canvas shopping bags full of spray paint canisters nearby, I asked him questions of his inspiration and practice. He does not teach (he would make a bad one, as he stated). He is one of five graffiti artists in town (as he pointed to an obviously lesser quality piece across the street on the stadium wall), and sometimes he has a plan sketched out for the piece, but other times, he just paints whatever comes into his head. And though his appearance might better suggest that of a beggar, he is a business man, averaging around $400US per mural such as he was presently painting. That is pretty good money around here.

And it must be worth it, for San Ramon is a better place with his muralistic creativity and imagination. A perfected technique that seems to weather well, he is a master of reflections in eyes, in crafting some three dimensionality, but also of creating people and creatures in all manner of disposition and allegory. Those faces just loom out of the concrete as if embedded in it, watching, haunting, surprising or just delighted. And it has inspired other artists to do the same, making the neighborhood streets a walk in a mural museum.

It just comes from his head. Concrete never looked this good, Roy.