While riding with my sister last week, I saw this painted wall in the distance. On Sunday April 12, 2014 at about 8 a.m. I came back to it, to photograph the whole thing. This is a long wall, and weeks or months of work to get this all done, but it is a perfect example of the vigorous artistic spirit of the hispanic people of Phoenix. While this is not great art by any stretch of the imagination, I happen to think it’s pretty cool.

The wall belongs to Morales Auto Repair, a South Phoenix garage that opened in 1972. It is on the east side of 7th Avenue behind a big empty lot with a lot of trash in it about half a mile south of the Salt River bed.

Looks like a green chameleon. We don’t have lizards that look like this in Phoenix.

Maybe this blue jaggy stuff is meant to be poison.

Next comes a viper of some sort. Green and gold are not typical colors for an Arizona snake.

The snake appears to be breathing fire.

American bald eagle

The world

Mexican brown or golden eagle

Happiness is Mickey Mouse.

Mickey’s machinery?

Unknown red bird.

The winds?

. . .

Flowering cactus and honey bee.

Artist signature?

And wrapping it all up

is Felix the Cat

the wonderful, wonderful cat.

Whenever he gets in a fix

He reaches into his bag of tricks.

The place looks like a junkyard or a dump, but in the midst of all the dead tires, broken rocks, and paper trash, there is an amazing wall full of brightly colored animals, both real and mythic exercising their symbolic powers to protect the world and bring joy to the people. I love it.

If  you’ve ever found any great Mexican wall art, why not leave a comment?

–end