A Florida-based artist has changed the look of downtown Odessa after completing a three-story-tall mural on the parking garage adjacent to the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Conference Center on Wednesday.
The commissioned piece can be seen downtown on Sixth Street between Jackson Avenue and Hancock Avenue.
The artist, Ernesto Maranje, is a muralist from Wynwood, Fla., a suburb of Miami, who has spent the last 10 years painting domestically and abroad in places such as Iraq, the Kingdom of Jordan, Lebanon, Greece, Spain and Ukraine after serving in the United States Coast Guard.
In 2017, Maranje spent time collaborating with the Ukrainian-based art project ArtUnitedUs to create a series of three murals in Kyiv ranging from seven to 16 stories tall. That same year, he also painted two additional murals in Odesa, Ukraine.
The muralist can now add West Texas to his resume with the completion of the three-story mural, which was commissioned by the City of Odessa in conjunction with Odessa Arts through publicartist.org. Maranje said he was quickly challenged by the cold and windy weather shortly after his arrival which only slightly changed his approach to painting the wall.
“It took a few days of kind of understanding what was going on, and then just safety gear is what we had to do. A mask and goggles and staying low as long as we can and still work through it,” he said. “But yeah, it was a challenge.”
Maranje explained that whether the mural is three stories or 16 stories tall, the problems encountered tend to be the same.
“They tend to stay pretty much in one range of problems. Whether you have water, whether you have electricity or not, how close the wall is to power lines or main streets, all sorts of problems,” he said. “Painting at the end of the day is just painting. So aside from all the logistics and all the problems you can always get something.”
Marriott owner Sondra Eoff is happy with the massive mural. She said people sent them pictures of the work in progress.
“We couldn’t be more pleased,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”
