SAN ANTONIO – He didn’t quite know where he would end up, but Roger Maximo knew at an early age that painting would be part of his plan.
“I think I’ve always painted on canvases,” he said recently, reflecting on his past. “Then I started spray-painting on walls, painting murals.”
Now, painting murals is mostly what he does — all over the city.
From the North Side to the South Side, and from the East Side to the West Side, chances are you will see his work on the sides of buildings.
You can easily tell a Maximo mural by his key signature, “MXMO.”
However, he says there are more common threads within his work than that.
“I use vibrant colors,” he said. “It’s usually the color, size. I usually do portraits very large to get all the detail.”
His work runs the gamut from serious portraits to silly characters.
Focusing on faces, though, is what he enjoys most, especially if they belong to people who inspire him.
“It could be an athlete. It could be a musician,” he said.
Many years ago, it was a cartoon character who captured his attention and became the subject of his first attempt at painting a mural.
“I think I was about 9 or 10, and it was Sponge Bob. But it looked like a cheese with eyeballs,” Maximo said, laughing.
The Texas State University graduate has come a long way since then.
He makes his living solely from painting murals.
Maximo says he can’t help but notice how many other people share the same passion.
San Antonio’s art world is expanding and it is quickly becoming a “mural city,” he said.
“I just want to be a part of that growth and create as many murals as I can, while I can,” he said.
That would be Maximo to the max.
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