Mario Enrique Figueroa, Jr., artistically known as GONZO247, is a Houston native and a self-taught multidisciplinary artist with over 30 years of experience. GONZO's recognizable style of art, some in the form of large murals, adorn various neighborhoods around the city and state and in places around the world.
GONZO247 participated as a leading figure and pioneered graffiti and street art culture as an energetic underground art movement in Houston. He produced Aerosol Warfare, the video series documenting graffiti culture through the 1990s and 2000s. He co-founded the Houston Wall of Fame (the first and most uniquely discovered art production of its kind) and has participated in projects working with top brand campaigns that speak to urban communities. Over the years, GONZO has curated and collaborated on numerous art exhibitions. He recently founded the Graffiti and Street Art Museum (2015, in development), produced the Houston Urban Experience (HUE) Festival (2015 - 2019), and has continued to manage projects through Aerosol Warfare Gallery and Studio.
GONZO247 has volunteered many hours and participated in countless community activities. Organizations he has worked with include Discovery Green, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TEDxYouth Houston, Avenue CDC - Art on The Avenue, DiverseWorks, Fresh Arts, Houston Arts Alliance, The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, Houston Zoo, and Project Row Houses.
GONZO247 won the Houston Press Best Art Curator in a Non-Museum Setting Award in 2012, and one of his most famous works, Houston Is…, in downtown Houston was also voted the Houston Press Best Public Art Project 2013 and gained a Silver ADDY Award. This mural was honored as the Public Art Project Mural for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau in 2013. His work appears in published books, including The History of American Graffiti 2011. He received Congressional Recognition from Member of Congress Sheila Jackson Lee for Arts in Community in honor of Hispanic heritage month 2018; received the Houston Metro Hispanic Heritage Month award for Cultural and Historic Trail Blazers 2018; awarded a City of Houston Proclamation on September 27, for his artistic efforts and education in Houston 2016; received a City of Houston Proclamation on September 18, as part of the Mayor's Hispanic Heritage Award for Art in Community 2018; was co-awarded, with Harris County, Preservation Houston's Good Brick Martha Peterson Award for his efforts on redesigning (in collaboration with the original artist, Leo Tanguma), re-painting, and preserving a mural from 1973 titled The Rebirth of Our Nationality located in East End Houston.
In addition to public and private art commissions, GONZO247 has sold works of art from his studio to collectors who live locally, regionally, and globally. His upbringing and experiences while in Houston, his travels, and his Mexican culture have artistically inspired him to continue creating and honoring his culture and background while striving to collaborate cross-culturally.
