February 5, 2015
San Juan has some truly amazing examples of street or wall art. The subject is far too rich for any one of these missives so I’ll return to this theme occasionally, with different examples. The works are sometimes signed and dated, sometimes not. They reflect a vibrant visual artistic reality here, celebrated formally in exhibitions by local artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art located on Avenida Juan Ponce de Leon, at Parada 18. I don’t know how or who commissions these examples of wall art. I’ll investigate that, promise. I’ll give two examples of each work – one original, and one I manipulated in various ways with Adobe Photoshop®.
This iguanoid creature adorns a wall in Santurce, adjacent to an entrance ramp to a highway heading south, to Caguas and Ponce. Here is the retouched version, still a work in progress. All the examples in this letter are from Santurce, a large area of metropolitan San Juan with both gritty and well-to-do neighborhoods.
This example is not, so far as I can see, signed, but it has been in place for a good while, judging from the gratuitous graffiti (not without its own merits, I might add) adorning the ground level of the mural. Arquetipo signed his (her?) example, in 2013. I’m guessing s/he was hungry as s/he worked on it.
I have not been able to find out anything about Arquetipo – in fact, the only reference to that name I have found is to a floral design shop, specializing in custom weddings, located in Santurce. I doubt this has anything to do with the mural.
The woman on red, when retouched, reveals a nice light and shadow effect on her back. 
The last one, for this letter anyway, really struck my fancy. 
Just imagine, she could be giving you a facial, back rub, pedicure, and Nuru massage – and all at the same time.
Now, that’s a thought that should help you keep warm on the cold February nights you’ve been experiencing.