Henry Gonzalez is more into tattooing than painting these days. But that didn’t stop him from creating a mural in Clearing to honor one of his favorite holidays, Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
A traditional Día de los Muertos altar, a colorful ofrenda with a red tablecloth, sits in the left corner of the mural, honoring loved ones who have died. A trio of string musicians strum their instruments on the far right side. In the middle, a anatomical scarlet heart overlaid with brown, twisted, thorny vines is flanked by a La Catrina skeleton on one side, wearing a wide-brimmed mariachi hat, and a decorated skeleton on the other sporting a wide-brimmed brown hat. Skulls rest between the two skeletons, or calacas, on either side of the heart.
Orange marigolds punctuate the ground around the figures, while bright, multicolored, cutout prayer flags seem to flutter above them. A backdrop of glowing, ethereal candles shines throughout.
The Day of the Dead is “a meaningful holiday for the Latino culture and the community,” says Gonzalez of Archer Heights, who goes by the artist name Gape One. “I love the tradition.”
Día de los Muertos is celebrated this weekend.
With federal immigration raids continuing around Chicago, Gonzalez predicted this year’s festivities could hold special significance for people with Latino heritage. Those Chicagoans “might be looking to be closer and hold on tighter to their culture,” he says.
Gonzalez and his team painted the mural late last year. It was done entirely in spray paint and took about two weeks to finish. The mural is on the west-facing wall of a one-story, commercial strip mall building at West 63rd Street and South Knox Avenue. The building is home to King’s Chop Suey. Gonzalez previously painted a mural for the restaurant on the wall facing West 63rd Street.
Eight students from the nearby Latino Organization of the Southwest Youth Center helped create the painting. The Youth Center provides services to Latino immigrants on the Southwest Side.
This is not Gonzalez’s first mural to speak directly to Chicago’s immigrant community. In 2023, he painted a mural honoring immigrants at West 21st Street and South Ashland Avenue in Pilsen. That mural features an American flag with red silhouettes of people walking to form six red stripes on an alternating white background. In the field of blue on the left, a young migrant child peeks out from a bundle wrap on his mother’s back. Fifty stars are positioned in an arc above them.
A sign next to that mural recognizes Gonzalez by his artist name, Gape One, and reads, “What makes America great is its people who come from everywhere in [the] world for freedom and opportunity! God Bless America!”
Gonzalez recently shifted his focus from murals to tattoos, he says, which provides a creative outlet while being easier on his body.
“It’s not as tiring because I don’t have to run up and down ladders. I sit my butt down and draw,” he chuckles. “It’s a big difference but just as gratifying.”