The artist restores the Bad Bunny mural damaged by vandals

A mural dedicated to the musical star Bad Bunny on the outside wall of a restaurant in his hometown, Vega Baja, damaged by vandals in mid-December, began to be restored on Wednesday by its creator, the Puerto Rican artist. Eric Chacon.

“We will restore it and add the message I want to project, which is addressed to young people: not to lose their dream, to keep their concentration like Benito and all those qualities of humble people and children who want to improve themselves “Chacón told Efe about his play dedicated to Benito Martínez, the first name of the urban artist.

The mural was made by Chacón, from the company New Art Industry, in May 2019 and took the author 18 hours to complete.

The painting depicts Bad Bunny’s face with lines of different colors, such as white, red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and black, showing his tongue, wearing distinctive glasses, a third eye on his forehead, and his two little fingers pointing toward him. .

“The whole concept of lines, colors and shape will remain intact,” said Chacón, 40, of the piece outside the Costa Norte restaurant, which has been in operation since 1980 and is located in the Marbella sector, formerly known as the “Puerto Nuevo Beach”.

The style used by Chacón for mural painting is “The Pop Art Portrait of Wedha”, known as WPAP.

“It’s more laborious and you have to be precise,” Chacón said of the work, which he will restore using a ladder and possibly a scaffold.

Bad Bunny, the most listened to artist on Spotify in 2020, with over 8,000 million views, has grown especially in the Almirante Sur sector, an area near the city of Vega Baja, on the north coast of Puerto Rico.

The day of vandalism

Last December 22, when several unknown people, who were using aerosols, damaged the mural, according to a friend of a daughter of Rosa Valle, a member of the management of the Costa Norte restaurant.

As Valle told Efe at the time, he saw the suspects fleeing in a vehicle.

Even more locals took videos and photos of the moment when strangers committed the act of vandalism and left the area.

Regarding the act of vandalism, Chacón said: “I felt the same way a child feels when he makes a very beautiful image and another child comes and damages him. I felt what any artist feels or would feel when their art is damaged ”.

However, Chacón acknowledged that “these are the risks that an artist takes into account when deciding to do street art, because the audience that will have an impact is greater than the risks.“.

As Chacón explained, the reason for capturing the image of Bad Bunny in a mural came when the urban performer appeared on the red carpet at the 2019 American Music Awards, with a third eye painted on his forehead and pointing with both roses in his face. .

“It was a sign that his originality knows no bounds,” said Chacón de Bad Bunny, who before devoting himself entirely to music worked as a packer in a supermarket in his hometown and grew up.

According to Chacón, the entire mural project lasted six months, during which time he and his wife “explored” Vega Baja and went to the town hall to find out on which walls they could paint the work, until they in the Marbella sector and spoke with the owners of the north coast.

“We chose to dedicate the play to Bad Bunny for his values, achievements and all the positive things he did. I’m a fan of his achievements and what he has done for people, “said Chacón, referring to the young artist who for several years has given hundreds of gifts to children and young people in Puerto Rico at Christmas.

“Bad Bunny, on the other hand, alludes in some of his themes to his pride in being Puerto Rican, another main reason why we chose to paint the artist,” said Chacón, a barber.

Chacón also emphasized the “evil rabbit” because in his songs he highlights “the problems we face, such as gender violence, the lack of identity of our young people for fear of being judged or marginalized or criticized”.

“Benito, through his character, reaches many generations and, in our opinion, this artist is a key piece when we talk about creating awareness to generate changes in our country about the love of country, appreciate our attributes as Puerto Ricans and give us the value we deserve in front of the world, ”he said.

“We want to take advantage of the artist’s touch to raise awareness among different generations about the value of children and young people who are already the future of the world. That they support their creativity and imagination so that they are the new inventors of the world. That each generation is a better version of the previous one “, he underlined.