David “Shek” Vega, a lead artist for our cover art, is a street artist, a muralist, and manager of numerous creativity enterprises. Born and raised in South San Antonio, Shek, as he is known in the art world, began his creative career as a graffiti artist at age 15.
A self-taught artist, Shek’s vibrant and explosive imagery attracted the attention of the Pepsi-Cola marketing team which featured him in a short TV commercial engaged in mural painting and drinking a cool Pepsi soda during his breaks.
Since that Pepsi commercial break-through in 2000, Shek and Nik Soupe co-founders of Los Otros, a mural team that has been engaged in commissioned artwork and murals. In 2017 Los Otros Murals received a commission from Red Bull to paint a mural for the Fiesta campaign. The mural on our cover is featured at the Fiesta store on Broadway.
Los Otros utilized a social media contest to identify a “favorite Fiesta moment.” They chose to paint a mural based on that contest noting: “This image captures Bianca Flores, in a beautifully majestic pose, elegantly looking onward.”
When Shek and Los Otros are not painting murals, they are doing creative work for the San Antonio Spurs and several other corporations. In a recent effort to expand their branding campaign, for example, the Spurs merchandising team contracted Shek to design caps and T-shirts incorporating images that reflect graffiti and mural art.
Shek has formed several small businesses related to muralism and fine art printing. His studio at 1906 South Flores is in the heart of Southtown, The Arts District. The studio is filled with newly painted art canvases as well as Spurs-Los Otros merchandise. Shek noted that the Spurs’ merchandise is available online or at the ATT Center. For Shek, there is never enough time in the day to complete all his projects.