Paola Delfin, the cover artist for this issue, was born and raised in Mexico City. She grew up admiring the vibrant murals of great Mexican masters such as Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. As a child Delfin was constantly drawing and making sketches on small paper tablets and even napkins.
Now her art is largely painted on large surfaces, including a mural on a 13 story building in Kiev, Russia. Her mural in San Antonio is one of many she has painted across several continents.
In a recent interview with Sam Wakim, founder and editor of Street Art United States, Paola Delfin revealed much about her approach to muralism or street art. She told Wakim: “I believe that art needs to be seen everywhere possible, to bring a white wall to life, and make a story out of it. My passion is to create, be available to tell a story with my hands and make it visible to everyone though images that involve you [the viewer] in that story. That feeling is what makes me love being an artist.”
She told Wakim that her introduction to street art changed her thinking about how best to convey her
message. She realized that “the messages she was trying to emit would become trapped and misunderstood on a small template, therefore, she found that using large wall space was a perfect way to express herself.”
Thanks to the work of David “Shek” Vega and Andy Benavides of 1906 South Flores studios, Delfin found the ideal wall to express her favorite themes related to ideas that beauty and feminine sensibility are never easily understood. In an interview with Nina Karaicic, a Belgrade journalist, Delfin referred to her mural work as “a story of movement, with fluid lines to explore the beauty and fragility of the feminine figure and also show how strong its impact can be.”
Delfin’s mural on the south wall of 1906 South Flores is in the heart of Southtown, The Art District, and represents one of many that “Shek” and his muralists team, Los Otros Murals have promoted or completed in San Antonio. More on that topic in a later issue.