Photo courtesy Mauriel Morejon

ARTIST OF THE MONTH

Imagine walking out the back door and entering a beach scene. Or that a trip to your enclosed patio becomes a walk into an Italian coffeehouse.

This is the magic of Mauriel Morejon’s backyard murals. The Cuban-born artist trained at the Havana Art Academy, and his oil paintings have traveled the globe.

In 1999, Morejon immigrated to the United States and began dabbling in murals while his canvas works traveled to galleries across Latin America. In 2002, he received an Award of Merit for an exhibition at the National Museum of Art in Barcelona, but his mural business was taking off.

Since 2006, Morejon has painted murals full-time for various restaurants, private homes and even the Valley’s own Barcelona nightclub. The murals cost $50 per foot-length. (A 20-foot-long mural would cost $1,000.)

Morejon says he loves Arizona for its beautiful sunsets and emotive landscapes. The murals “bring life to the wall and turn the wall into an open place where you feel like you can keep walking.”