With this piece, as with most of my pieces, my focus is on creating something that has
some sense of timelessness.
My name is Miles McGregor, also know as El Mac.
I'm an artist and muralist.
It's something that that I take very seriously as a public artist.
Painting these big large, public murals, you know, there's something very powerful in that.
Because of that power, there's also kind of a responsibility that comes with that, and
hopefully something that the community can connect with, something that's relevant to
the history and the culture of wherever the mural is.
These figures are monumental.
Normally, when we look at monuments, they're famous figures.
I don't know if it's, like, groundbreaking conceptually or anything, but I think it's
important work to make these kinds of monuments to normal people.
The figures are based on reference photos that I shot of some local young people.
The young woman, her name is Mandolina, and she helps manage a nearby community garden.
The figure next to her, his name is Jamai, and he's a ballet dancer.
The third figure, he's Seminole, and he's the youngest figure that I'm painting.
I work all night, and then in the mornings.
The technique is very difficult.
It's ridiculously time consuming, and the way that I paint, it's all lines and circles,
lines and circles and patterns, and the hope is that kind of consistency, it does something
for the viewer, or it can, the same way when we hear some music that we like.
You know, there's something about the pattern, it's appealing to the brain.
From a distance, these images hopefully look representational and realistic and accurate.
And at the same time, I hope that when people actually are in front of them in person, and
can see the details, that that can work on another level, and it's almost abstract.
When I paint, I'm putting my paint in ice to cool the cans and lower the pressure.
I'm using certain kinds of caps, and you know, if it's hot out, it'll change pressure of
the can, so there's a lot going on there.
But at the same time, I'm also kind of using the paint in a way that comes out of what
you would call a traditional graffiti aesthetic, you know?
Like, I'm using these caps that are known as New York fat caps and they're kind of like
iconic paint valves in graffiti, historically, and the way that they make the paint spray
out in this kind of hollow circle or ring of paint, but I'm kind of stretching it to
its limit.
This technique has been kind of evolving over time.
You could look at the one surviving piece that I painted here in Winwood from 2009.
And, you know, just over the years, I think I keep trying to find ways to make it more
difficult and time-consuming for myself.
But I have been, actually, because I keep trying to push it and stretch it as far as
I can, and I think the challenge of painting these pieces and constantly trying to figure
out new ways to make them more beautiful is this kind of never-ending task for me.
It's also, you know, this is an important project for me, because I haven't painted
in Miami in over a decade.
The first time that I painted out here was in 2007.
There was already graffiti art in this area, no question, but I think, as far as I know,
2007 was maybe the first year that there's was really a kind of a larger scale organized
mural project.
We always hear about street art, and I think Wynwood is kind of world famous now as kind
of an epicenter of street art, and I always point out that the first time I actually heard
the term street art here in Miami in 2008, we were all just like, what is that, because
we were all coming out of a background in graffiti and, you know, fine art, but we called
it graffiti.
I think, from my own experience, that was a turning point in this whole movement.
I never really liked the term street art, I never really embraced it, but you know,
it is what it is.
So much goes into it, you know, I really see it as, I'm putting love into the art, which
sounds very fuzzy and cliche, but it's really sincere.
It's almost spiritual, it's almost religious, you know, it's my life's purpose.
[Narrator] If you want to see El Mac's huge mural in Wynwood, just look up.
It's located on the Wynwood 25 apartment building near Wynwood Walls.
Follow El Mac on Instagram, @mac_arte.