Gerald Hanks
Most artists work to achieve an unmistakable, recognizable style people can identify without a signature.
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A rare feat, indeed, but up-and-coming artist Sylvia Blanco is well on her way to becoming just such a household name.
Representing her Mexican heritage, her budding style reflects her love of striking imagery and life as both a woman and an artist.
In many ways, Blanco’s work is a reflection of Houston itself.
Even though she was born in Mexico, she grew up in the heart of Montrose, the Houston neighborhood known for its bohemian vibe and creative types, as well as its history being the city’s traditionally gay neighborhood.
Blanco eventually found her footing with a group of mural artists and began developing her talent in 2010, working alongside numerous street artists, including Gonzo247, the founder of the Houston Urban Experience Mural Festival.
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Although she watched and worked with several of the biggest names in Houston’s street art community, Blanco herself received little formal art training before moving to Texas.
Instead of attending art classes on technique, perspective, and layout, however, she forged her own path and followed female street artists such as Anat Ronen, Natalia Victoria, Hannah Bull and Jessica Rice to develop her own style.
In 2014, she answered a call for artists to paint a mural outside the Frenetic Theater, a local theatrical troupe, which chose Blanco and two other artists to create wall-sized artworks around the performance space.
Her artistic collaboration was the first mural she ever created.
The following year, she created a distinctive mural depicting a Hispanic woman with a snake encircling her neck for the first HUE Mural Festival.
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Working in a wide variety of mediums, including everything from spray paint and concrete, to oil and canvas, Blanco is finding her place in Houston’s art scene:
“I love that street mural work belongs to the public, canvas work lives in a home,” she told a local newspaper. “The only way I can explain it is that painting on canvas is my heart, and painting murals is my soul.”
That place may be at the top very soon.
