Yosmer Urrieta spent up to 25 hours on each of the 14 new alebrije murals that shine from business windows along North Clark Street between Devon Avenue and Howard Street in Rogers Park.
A vibrant dragon bursts from the window of the Rogers Park branch library with a whimsical smile that might feel at home on a Pokémon card. Brilliant oranges, pinks, purples and other fluorescent colors come together to illustrate creatures that look like a mystical ram, a winged wolf or a pair of prancing hens.
Alebrijes are fantastical and brightly colored Mexican spirit animals. The critters can be spotted on windows along a stretch of what is now considered Camino Clark, a state-designated strip honoring the street’s vibrant Mexican cultural district and corridor.
Urrieta says it was his perfect canvas.
“I want to bring my art directly to the streets,” he says. “The people see my art and give me energy, they say something, they have many questions. I feel like, ‘Whoa, my art has purpose here. My art is real because people feel it.”
The theme of the entire series is “weightlessness.” Urrieta tapped traditional alebrijes’ traits of bright colors, patterns, dots and textures to create his own interpretations of winged hybrid creatures. He studied the colors of traditional alebrijes and the branding of the Rogers Park Business Alliance to develop a palate that would complement the neighborhood while remaining his own.
Finally, Urrieta took into consideration the size and shape of every window he painted, using that to guide the creatures he crafted. He used brushes and acrylic paints to create each alebrije. “Every mural is like a specific art piece,” he says.
Sandi Price, executive director of Rogers Park Business Alliance, calls Urrieta and his contribution “amazing.”
Clark Street in Rogers Park was designated one of 15 Mexican cultural districts in the state in 2024, she says. While the neighborhood boasts strong Mexican heritage, entrepreneurship and community pride, the number of Spanish-speaking business owners is shrinking, Price says. Boosting awareness of the vibrant strip is an effort to stop that decline and celebrate the community that continues to live and work there.
The 14 new murals are part of that effort. Price hopes the alebrijes will attract visitors who will, in turn, “see the murals and see what Clark Street has to offer.”
Urrieta, who lives in Lockport, grew up in Venezuela and studied art in college there. He moved from Boston to Chicago about four years ago to be closer to his wife’s family. He also works as a tattooist in Oak Forest.
He applied to paint the Rogers Park alebrijes after a friend recommended it, saying it would be his perfect gig.
Urrieta says neighborhood residents appreciated his hard work and made him feel welcome as he brightened one of their main thoroughfares.
“The best part of the project,” he says, “is the people.”