SAN ANTONIO — Some of San Antonio’s street artwork will be going away very soon, but with the promise of something new in its place.
“I love every one of these pieces out here, they’re exquisite work,” Midnight Flortiz said, standing next to a row of several spray-painted images.
Most of 2021 is in the rearview, and much like the year: some of those artworks won’t be around much longer.
The walls of Bill’s Pawn Shop at 2906 W Commerce street and two neighboring buildings act as an outdoor rotating gallery.
Midnite Flortiz is the founder of the corridor of art project. Although he doesn’t really have an official title; a realization that had him quite amused.
“Oooh! I get to make something up,” he said. “Founder? Curator? Umm… Wall manager?”
That might be because the project is less than a year old. It came out of a desire to fill neighborhood walls with graffiti artwork to deter vandalism.
This weekend, many of these works will be rotated out to make way for new works by more artists.
The work is unpaid, but some have managed to leverage what they’ve done here towards more professional pursuits, like the creator of this work, who showed up a little late to the game.
"I was a little leery about it at first because I didn’t think they’d be able to produce quality work in half a day and they blew my mind. They’re off doing professional contracts now.”
The Corridor gives artists of all skill levels a chance to get eyes on their work, with the understanding that they won’t be here forever with the possible exception of two works by an artist named Supher who recently suffered a stroke.
He said he hopes one day the corridor could stretch down Commerce street from the starting point on the west side all the way across San Antonio.
“In order for me to keep the imagery, I need more walls to paint on,” he said. “If more businesses would reach out to me and be like ‘Hey, we want this kind of thing in our area,’ I can set up another corridor of art wherever they are.”
The Corridor is an unfunded art project. MidNite secures the walls for artists to paint on and the artists largely provide their own supplies. He said they are open to taking donations to spend on things like extra paint, supplies or lift rentals to be able to safely paint on higher walls.
Anyone interested in participating, donating or volunteering their walls are encouraged to reach out to CorridorOfArt@Gmail.com