In 2009, artist Jorge Monroy surprised everyone by creating “Under the Wings of Mercury,” a stunning mural adorning the lobby of the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce on Avenida Vallarta.
Since then he has been asked to paint other murals, including a fascinating and enigmatic portrait of Aztec god Tlaloc for the Jalisco Water Commission, his highly praised 30-meter-long curved mural gracing the Guachimontones Interpretative Center at the Teuchitlán archaeological site, and the History of the Civil Hospital at Guadalajara’s Antiguo Hospital Civil.
Monroy’s latest creation will grace the auditorium of Guadalajara’s Universidad del Valle de Atemajac (UNIVA) on Avenida Tepeyac, near Avenida Patria.
UNIVA started out about 60 years ago as a small Catholic Bible school, located in downtown Guadalajara. Then, in 1961, local priest Santiago Méndez (who prominently occupies the center of Monroy’s mural) took over the school and expanded it to include subjects such as journalism and business management, transforming it into a vocational night school for working people.
“It was a big success,” says Monroy, “and the school was moved to different sites around the city – all of them depicted in my mural – until it arrived right here.”
UNIVA is now a large, sprawling, full-time university offering courses in just about every field, including medicine. The Zapopan campus has nearly 14,000 students and the university has expanded to 11 other cities in Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Guanajuato, Colima and Querétaro.