Twelve different species of endemic flora of the Puerto Vallarta region were captured inside one of the two tunnels in the area by the Mexican artist Lucia Prudencio Núñez.
The project is part of a program to revitalize large-scale public spaces through art, which the Municipal Government undertook, through the initiative of the Vallartense Institute of Culture (IVC), which, to date, has generated two murals in the Historic Center from the city.
“In the IVC we think it is very important to rescue these spaces and make sense of them in the form of large canvases,” the IVC director Marina de los Santos Álvarez said about the tunnel intervention project.
Urban art, according to De los Santos, is increasingly present in large cities and in Puerto Vallarta has managed to capture the eyes of locals and tourists alike, while democratizing art and fostering a sense of belonging among the residents of the intervened areas.
“The public spaces give identity to the sites and being in a place like Vallarta, with this exuberance and vegetal beauty, it captivated me. Personally, my work takes place on that path,” explained Lucia Prudencio.
The design of the mural responds to the needs of the space and the idea of betting on local identity. “It has not been an artist’s whim. The work is based on a previous investigation of the local flora,” said Prudencio Núñez, who said that the line made is synthetic to clearly and effectively communicate the image, taking into account that in this place people cannot stop and there is a medium and high-speed movement through the tunnel.
The artistic intervention of the interior wall of the “small” tunnel south to north, was carried out in the month of February during six nights, in which the traffic was partially interrupted with the support of the Sub-Directorate of Roads. Previously, the Directorates of Public Services and Maintenance of Assets and Intent, respectively, prepared the area with pruning, painting and lighting.
A group of students from the Bachelor of Design for Graphic Communication of the University Center of the Coast (CUCosta), of the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), actively participated as assistants to the artist.
Lucía Prudencio Núñez (Mexico City, 1984), has a degree in Arts from the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving “La Esmeralda”, and currently resides in Xalapa, Veracruz. Specializing in graphics, the intervention in the tunnel wall demonstrates the influence that engraving, graphics and high contrast give to his work.
The mural in the tunnel is added to those recently produced by the IVC in the corner of Abasolo and Juárez by the muralist Misael López, and in the Primary School “20 de Noviembre” by the multimedia artist Jupiterfab.
