HOY- Villa Francisca is an urban art and community festival, initiated by Modafoca. Its goal is to transform the Villa Francisca neighborhood with art, highlighting cultural and social values within this area of the Dominican Republic’s capital. In its second year, Dominican born, Miami based artist Evoca1 was invited along with other local artists to leave their marks in the neighborhood ahead of the opening day of the festival on July 29th.
About The Mural
The laid back figurative artist treats huge walls like canvases and creates masterpieces very akin to watercolors, with flowing brushstrokes and perfect proportions. Evoca1 truly amazes me with the level of detail that he puts into his murals.
His latest opus features a kid with a slingshot and a Palmchat bird and is titled “Tirapiedra.” The artist reminisces on his childhood growing up in the Dominican Republic, he adds: “Growing up, like a lot of other kids that live in rural areas of the Dominican Republic, we would go into the mountains and use slingshots to hunt Ciguas (Dominican national bird). We would make the slingshots out of wood branches and rubber bands or old bicycle tubes. I’m still surprised at how accurate we were. This is still one of my fondest memories as a child.”
About The Artist
Evoca1 aka Elio Mercado, born 1984 in Dominican Republic, is a figurative painter, muralist and designer based out of Miami, Florida. He spent most of his childhood drawing and playing baseball in the Dominican Republic until moving to Hollywood, Florida at age 11. He has been making art his whole life without any formal art school training, teaching himself how to paint with oil, acrylic, latex and spray paint. His murals are scattered around the world, and he has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including many works that have been sold in auctions. He is also an activist motivated by the desire to raise awareness about the difficulties the impoverished people have to face on an everyday basis.
Images by Tost Films
Evoca1: website | facebook | instagram
HOY- Villa Francisca: facebook | instagram
