With the rise of public art and large-scale, outdoor murals adorning businesses and buildings throughout Oklahoma, some artists have been leaving major marks on cities and communities, even if most of the people passing the artworks every day don’t know the names of the creative minds behind them.
But if you’ve seen the psychedelically colorful, photorealistic faces and figures gracing everything from dentist’s offices in Yukon and Mustang to the history museum in Broken Arrow to tattoo parlors and, perhaps most notably, the Eastside Oklahoma City Homeland, then you’ve been seeing the work of OKC-based painter Carlos Barboza.
With a style marrying hyperrealism with surrealist, sometimes monochromatic coloration, Barboza has become one of the most in-demand artists for large-scale painting projects across the state, and has even been tapped for mural projects as far away as New York.
As OKC’s artist community gears up for September’s Plaza Walls, an annual event inviting muralists to transform the back-alley brick walls of the Plaza District, Barboza is once again set to bring his unique style and creative eye to the festivities.
It’s all come together to form an unexpected career path for an artist that originally set his sights on filmmaking and cinematic storytelling.
Carlos Barboza: I never thought that I'd end up being just a straight-up visual artist like this, you know. I never thought that I'd end up being a painter. I always, I think, since I was a teenager, I kind of thought I would always go into the filmmaking route. And I did kind of pursue that for a long time. And it wasn't until maybe two years ago, three years ago, that I've been doing murals long enough that I’ve been like “okay, I guess this is what I'm doing.”
Brett Fieldcamp: Barboza did spend some time in the Los Angeles film industry, working as a set dresser in art departments on various productions, honing many of the same visual elements and attentions to fine detail that would end up defining his painting work later.
But it was the appeal of total creative control and the ability to explore his own singular visions that he found pulling him toward painting and mural work.
Carlos Barboza: I definitely like being able to show up to a mural and just have complete control of the whole process, you know.
I mean, I feel very comfortable in the space that I'm in right now, and I'm starting to get more comfortable into it as time kind of goes on.
Brett Fieldcamp: Part of finding that comfort, he says, is respecting the cultural and artistic weight of the work and how a mural can even help to define and connect a community.
Carlos Barboza: I just feel like there's a very essential component about murals, specifically, whenever you paint something in places, you know, where maybe the community feels like they're not seen or they're disenfranchised, but you can paint like a gigantic wall, you know, where they can see themselves reflected in.
There's power in that. And I feel like that's the something that should always exist.
Brett Fieldcamp: Those larger ideas of culture and community have begun to develop more fully in Barboza’s mind recently, as he’s been exploring his own heritage and his native nation of Costa Rica, and considering for the first time how those elements can better inform his art and creativity.
Carlos Barboza: Actually, just recently, you know, I went to Costa Rica, which is where I was born, and that's where I lived until I was ten, and then when I was ten, we migrated to the US. I hadn't been back to Costa Rica since. And it was a very profound experience, going to my childhood home where I grew up.
But once I was in Costa Rica, I feel like there was like, this little bit of me that was kind of unlocked, where I do have access to all these things in my childhood that I just wasn't digging up.
The fruit and the flowers and the mountains and the colors. Like, my childhood memories or like the stories that I've heard from my parents about what Costa Rica is. There's just this whole wealth of ideas that I've never played with to create something that is uniquely me, you know.
Brett Fieldcamp: With those images and experiences fresh in his mind, he’s said that he’s lately been thinking more deeply about how to push himself further stylistically, even including forgoing some of that trademark hyperrealism in favor of a more fluid and abstract style that can tell a more emotional visual story.
Carlos Barboza: My whole thing just recently has been trying to find “okay, like, what is like my voice in this medium and how can I express myself through this medium?” Because it is something that I maybe always feel more comfortable with the idea of film as, like, storytelling. Okay, so like, let's try and do the same thing, but just one image, you know, and try and get something across that way.
And that's kind of where eventually I’ve started to move. Like, I still love doing detail, and I love to just pack a square inch full of information, but I do kind of want to get a little bit more playful, I think, with the work that I do.
Because, yeah, you know, realism is great, but it can only look one way.
Brett Fieldcamp: Barboza’s newest mural works will be seen inside the new Latin-inspired restaurant Vecina in Oklahoma City and at the upcoming Plaza Walls event September 28th in OKC’s Plaza District.
For a closer look at many of his works, visit carlosbarboza.com.
———————————
KGOU relies on voluntary contributions from readers and listeners to further its mission of public service with arts and culture reporting for Oklahoma and beyond. To contribute to our efforts, make your donation online, or contact our Membership department.
