Mario E. Figueroa, Jr. (GONZO247)
Houston, TX USA
"Don’t be afraid to be who you are. You don’t have to have anyone’s permission to be who you want to be."
Career Roadmap
Mario E.'s work combines: Art, Design, and Being Creative
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Like most parents, mine wanted me to go to college and get a career in order to have a good, successful life. And because my parents are immigrants, they specifically urged me to become a doctor or lawyer. They had good intentions. They thought they were looking out for me but it seemed like in order to be successful and live the American Dream, I had to do those things. I didn't want to. None of that called my attention. I had always liked art and that's what I wanted to do with my life.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I was born and raised in Houston, Texas.
2.
I grew up admiring Leo Tanguma’s mural “The Rebirth of Our Nationality” and knew that I wanted to do something similar one day.
3.
When rap, hip-hop culture, and graffiti made its way to Houston, I finally felt like there was a space where I belonged.
4.
I started researching through art magazines from the library to learn more about graffiti.
5.
The first time I used spray paint as an art tool, I felt instantly gratified and was immediately hooked.
6.
When I graduated high school, I decided to stay in Houston and help usher in the graffiti and street art movement here rather than move away to a city where the industry was already saturated.
7.
I had been tagging my real name on my art and quickly realized I didn’t want to do that anymore—I came across the word “gonzo” in the dictionary and started using that.
8.
Driven by my passion, I continued to express and develop my art, and I’m now seeing the rewards of that.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Parents:
Art is not a career. Art's a hobby. You need to go to college and become either a doctor or lawyer.
How I responded:
Like most parents, mine wanted me to go to college and get a career in order to have a good, successful life. And because my parents are immigrants, they specifically urged me to become a doctor or lawyer. They had good intentions. They thought they were looking out for me but it seemed like in order to be successful and live the American Dream, I had to do those things. I didn't want to. None of that called my attention. I had always liked art and that's what I wanted to do with my life.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My parents are from Mexico and I am the first generation born in the U.S. I started exploring my identity early on, as I spoke Spanish at home but had to speak English at school. Before I really identified as an American, I identified as a Tejano.