Searching for Street Art in Downtown Houston

I originally wanted to title this post: “How to kill 5 hours in downtown Houston while renewing your passport.” I looked for street art, ate a giant omelet for breakfast, chased butterflies at the science museum and had an iced coffee while I waited for my expedited passport.

Continuing on my solo road trip, I drove from Austin to Houston in about 3 hours.

After dropping off my proper paperwork at the downtown passport office, I headed to Harry’s, a longtime, Greek family restaurant on the edge of Montrose and Midtown. I ordered a big-as-my-head spinach and feta omelet with hashbrowns and unlimited filter coffee. Man, I do miss bottomless cups of coffee like what you get in the USA!

With a full belly, I continued on my wander of Downtown/Midtown Houston toward Elgin Street. At the bottom of this post, I included a map of my approximate walking area. I will say that some of the blocks here definitely seemed more sketchy than others. I was approached by a few homeless people asking for spare change and got whistled at by a group of guys walking by. My advice is to use your common sense and don’t do anything stupid. I didn’t use my good Canon camera like I usually do, and I kept my mobile phone in my front pocket so I could take photos.

Gorillas

Where: 3100 Smith St.

The Gorillas mural was completed by local Houston artist Nicky Davis in 2015 to mark the coming of western lowland gorillas to the Houston Zoo.

Michael Savoie mural

Where: Elgin and Smith streets

In this colorful mural, Dallas-based artist Michael Savoie depicts an African-American woman with a European look. In 2015, he was selected as a top 3 finalist and finished as the first runner-up in the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series competition when this mural was unveiled.

Preservons La Creation

Where: 2800 San Jacinto St.

Wow! You can’t miss this 9,750-square-foot mural created by French artist Sebastien “Mr. D” Boileau in 2014. His impressive interpretation of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel stretches an entire city block. Boileau now lives in Houston and owns a mural company, which does both private and public pieces.

The Bloody Truth mural

Where: 3000 Louisiana St.

This Halloween-ish mural, in support of the Bloody Truth Houston blood drive, also was designed by Boileau.

"The Earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."

Where: Bahá'í Community Center, 2419 Fannin St.

Meeting of Styles murals

Nouveau Antique Art Bar, 2913 S. Main St.

Meeting of Styles is an international network of graffiti artists that meet together and host various public art events around the world. I love the “Dia de los Muertos” murals, which I think were designed by Mexican street artist Real Tres. Apparently, the group also hosts an annual street artist event in London, so I’ll have to watch out for that.

Other murals in Downtown Houston

Here is an approximate walking area of Downtown Houston where I took these photos in this post:

NOTE: It’s been a little over one year ago since Hurricane Harvey landed in Houston (August 27, 2017), causing major flooding lasting until September 3, and the Downtown neighborhood was one of the areas greatly affected. The flood damage amounted to $1.5 billion and forced thousands of people to be evacuated from their homes. I visited Houston in October 2016 so I’m not sure if you’ll still find many of these murals.

Follow