Fiesta San Antonio unveiled their 2019 Fiesta Poster to an audience at The Witte Museum ready for the big party this past week. Deviating from usual way of selecting a poster artist, the organization decided to commission the design from local artists David “Shek” Vega and Nik “Soupé,” collectively known as Los Otros.
The artists are well known for their larger than life murals on the Southside and downtown that often depict their subjects in a black-and-white photo-realism style on top of a bright, bold and colorful patterned background. And their work on the 2019 Fiesta Poster did not disappoint!
Imagery on the 2019 Fiesta Poster
I absolutely love this poster and the fresh style that it is bringing to Fiesta—it has all the elements that make the 10-day festival so fun, the poster represents them in a contemporary style. While it’s important to hold onto past conventions, it’s refreshing to see an eye towards the future. Their work known as “Traditions” accomplishes both in a tremendous way.
“We’re just trying to incorporate a bunch of things in the city. Not just like the music or the party part of [Fiesta], but the actual part of what San Antonio is,” Soupé explained. “So with that we were trying to incorporate a couple of [themes] like the sombrero, the Alamo, the Tower of Americas, the colors the music, the piñata of course.”
My favorite black and white element of the poster is the incredible detail behind the accordion and the Alamo. Regardless of how many times I see a Los Otros mural, I’m perplexed as how they team can get that level of detail out of a spray paint can. It’s just unbelievable.
And I love the classic Los Otros flavor when it comes to the texture and pattern with the purple design on the back. It is reminiscent of the hats that they made last year in collaboration with UTSA for Hispanic Heritage month and the design stands out with this bold Fiesta color.
With so much detail, I wondered which element was the most difficult to work on—it turns out that it wasn’t necessarily hard to execute the painting, it was more difficult to do San Antonio justice.
“You have a responsibility to represent one of the biggest parties in the world. You want to make sure that you do it correctly,” Shek told me at the unveiling. “So we made it as bright and vibrant and the best that we knew how the best way to represent San Antonio.”
The 2019 Fiesta Poster can be purchased in person at the Fiesta Store on Broadway or online.
Drawing Attention to the Medium of Street Art
While the 2019 Fiesta Poster is certainly captivating, it also serves as a way to further popularize street art as a medium. Fresh on the heels of the Banksy canvas shredding moment at Sotheby’s, the popularity of street art is at an all time high. This poster not only seizes on the moment, but also is a harbinger for a nonprofit project that the duo is working on called the San Antonio Street Art Initiative (SASAI).
“The San Antonio Street Art Initiative is something that we’re hoping to educate more people on what street art is and what public murals are all about.” Soupé told me. “Not just on the people that are doing them, but also in the process to make them come to life. That’s going to be a lot of fun at the time. I’m really looking forward to seeing this next project evolve.”
SASAI is going to make a huge splash with a premier show on November 3 at 6:00 p.m. underneath the overpass as St. Mary’s and Quincy. There will be 16 murals by 16 different artists (including my good friend Andy Benavides who has helped design our SA Flavor Medal Party poster in the past) along with live music, food trucks and vendors.
¡Viva Fiesta! ¡Viva Los Otros!
Even though we still have about six months to go, I’m super excited for Fiesta 2019! In spite of all the rainy weather we’ve had recently, this poster was able to brighten everyone’s spirits and put us in the Fiesta mood. The guys at Los Otros are killing it with their projects with New Era, the Spurs and all the murals downtown—the 2019 Fiesta Poster is just another example of their supreme talent.
“If you just keep on track with Los Otros Murals [on Instagram], you can see all of the surprises that we have coming up towards the end of the year,” Shek said hinting at future projects. “I can’t say much now, but keep your eye out. There’s plenty to see.”
Plenty indeed! I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for them both locally and how they can rep San Antonio on a national stage! ¡Viva!
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