#22 - The Good, Bad and Greedy
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Location: 2001 S. Laredo at Brazos Dimensions: 105’ x 16’ Date: August 2002 Lead Artist: Adrian Fernandez (Lanier HS graduate) Mural crew: Alex Fernandez (Lanier HS senior), Catherine Fernandez (Lanier HS Sophomore), Louis Tijerina (Highlands HS Senior), and Leo Tijerina (Highlands HS Freshman) |
The mural blessing invitation, including images of the lead artists
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“This 100 ft. x 20ft. mural tackles timely issues of political corruption, economic racism, environmental racism and corporate greed and the effect those societal ills have on working class communities here in our city and throughout the world. The mural crew did extensive research for this 1 ½ year project. The crew studied German expressionist art, muralist Diego Rivera, Siqueiros, the book Animal Farm, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, convened neighborhood discussion and dialogue sessions regarding the mural imagery and conducted extensive community surveys before developing the final mural sketch.
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This mural is the Heavy Metal Crew’s second mural with San Anto Cultural Arts. Their first mural is located right next to their current project and is entitled “Heavy Metal.” That mural was completed in September of 2000 and is also 100 ft x 20 ft. The 2-mural project took over 3 years to complete and will have a final dimension of over 250 ft. x 20 ft."
(Text is from the mural blessing program.)
(Text is from the mural blessing program.)
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Originally a meat packing facility, the building shared by Heavy Metal and The Good, Bad and Greedy was purchased by Surlean Food Co. in 2012. In February of 2018, both murals were painted over.
Symbolism
From the mural blessing program:
"The Heavy Metal crew is communicating their ideas through the use of this mural art project. The issues being addressed by the Metal crew in this mural is corruption and greed in our government and the misery that the common citizen will go through if we don’t practice our freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The mural exhibits that dollars and profits have become more important than the well being of the hard working lower and middle class citizens.
The symbols used in the mural are puppet strings, pigs, a donkey, an elephant, money, hostility, war and greed. The giant hands represent the Puppet Master. The pigs represent the greed of corporate officials. The elephant and the donkey represent the political parties. A highly positioned political representative (the morphed elephant/donkey) hordes cash, representative of greedy kings from past nations. An elephant and a donkey fight over a dollar this is being used as bait by a pig. The background is a scene of despair and pollution. To the right of the mural, the working class do what they do best: work hard for the betterment of their families and community.
Express yourself! It’s the American thing to do.”
"The Heavy Metal crew is communicating their ideas through the use of this mural art project. The issues being addressed by the Metal crew in this mural is corruption and greed in our government and the misery that the common citizen will go through if we don’t practice our freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The mural exhibits that dollars and profits have become more important than the well being of the hard working lower and middle class citizens.
The symbols used in the mural are puppet strings, pigs, a donkey, an elephant, money, hostility, war and greed. The giant hands represent the Puppet Master. The pigs represent the greed of corporate officials. The elephant and the donkey represent the political parties. A highly positioned political representative (the morphed elephant/donkey) hordes cash, representative of greedy kings from past nations. An elephant and a donkey fight over a dollar this is being used as bait by a pig. The background is a scene of despair and pollution. To the right of the mural, the working class do what they do best: work hard for the betterment of their families and community.
Express yourself! It’s the American thing to do.”