Tucson’s murals loom large, with many spanning several stories and stretching across entire sides of buildings. Here are a few can’t-miss favorites to look for while exploring Downtown Tucson.
Joe Pagac
This epic mural sprawls across 4,000 square feet at 534 North Stone Avenue. It shows a cowboy and a woman riding bicycles into blue skies. The woman’s dress billows behind her, morphing into a sunset backdrop for a trio of animal buddies, also riding bicycles. Pagac’s work is vast in size and imagination. He has several large-scale works throughout Tucson, including “Harboring Beauty” at 191 East Toole Avenue and “Sky Islands” at 2320 North Campbell Avenue.
Rock “CYFI” Martinez
The “Goddess of Agave” graces the side of the Tucson Warehouse & Transfer Co. building on the corner of Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue. Painted in 2016, it has become an iconic symbol of Tucson. Martinez has stated that out of the numerous murals he has painted, this is his favorite.
Fin DAC
“Vergiss” stands tall on the side of the Lewis Hotel building on Broadway Boulevard. The female figure with an intense gaze has “Forget Me Not” tattooed on her arm, which contrasts with the mural’s title, the German word for forget. Fin DAC’s work is inspired by Asian culture and graphic novels.
EL MAC
EL MAC’s mural stretches down the side of Cobra Arcade Tucson, at the corner of East Congress Street and South Scott Avenue. The likeness of the woman laying serenely, holding a saguaro flower, is based on the artist’s wife. EL MAC also did a mural for the Downtown Phoenix location of Cobra Arcade. That female figure is based on Medusa and can be seen on the corner of North Second and East McKinley Streets in Phoenix.
Danny Martin
This sassy skeleton peers out from an East Congress Street parking lot, flanked by a vibrant pink desert background and a black and white Chevrolet. Martin creates “pulp Southwest art”, working primarily in black and white with the occasional pop of color.
