Can you imagine having a conversation with a wall about art? A structure, carrying the vision and voices of different artists, living on the exterior of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson (MOCA) and serving as a canvas.
What would you say to that wall?
Over two years, six artists will engage visually with the wall and with the people who pass in front of it as part of the “Fourth Wall Series of Murals.” The project will turn the museum’s facade into a changing canvas, providing a space for different voices and perspectives on art.
Arturo Herrera is a celebrated artist born in Caracas, Venezuela. His work intertwines pop and queer iconography, and is the first to bring color and life to the Southern Arizona museum wall. For Herrera, the mural is also an opportunity to connect with a borderlands landscape that, until now, he has only known from afar.
“I want to witness and experience what it’s like to be at the border and in the desert.,” the Berlin-based artist, who will be visiting Tucson for the first time, told Arizona Luminaria.
Herrera will bring a palette dominated by blue and green, two colors that, for him, have an almost universal familiarity.
That transformation is an essential part of the work that will be on view starting Sept. 26 through March 26. The mural on the large exterior wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson facing Church Avenue in downtown Tucson is not meant to remain, but to become a memory.
“It’s about giving vitality to that wall that was a little dead, forgotten,” Herrera said, his voice calm.
Herrera is 67. He imagines that people passing the museum, whether walking or driving, will look toward the wall and wonder: “What’s new? What’s the new image MOCA put on the wall?”
Herrera’s work will remain on the facade through March 2027. After that, the wall will change its skin again with commissions by Magali Lara, Eamon Ore Giron and Olivier Mosset, along with other artists who have yet to be announced.
MOCA Executive Director Gabriela Rangel organized the exhibit in collaboration with Wesley Creigh.
Herrera has built a career marked by an exploration of movement and influenced by music and dance, through collages, sculptures, prints and wall installations.
With his decades of experience, his art is part of the collections of some of the leading museums in the United States and Europe, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid; and Tate Modern in London.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How does temporality influence your creative process?
A: I’ve worked with murals for a long time, and only a few of them are permanent — maybe five or six. The others, more than 80, have disappeared. They are there for a while and then they are removed.
The good thing is that there are different places where new ones are being created all the time. A very important example is the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. That mural project has been going on for more than 15 years, and the number of artists who have passed through there is impressive.
Not everyone has the opportunity that Tucson has, where anyone passing by in a car, walking, going from one place to another, can see it in the morning, at midday and at night. That’s the good thing: the wall becomes activated, and in a few months another voice comes.
Q: What conversation do you hope to generate in Tucson through this mural?
A: You never know what the reception will be. But because it’s an abstract work, it has a fairly broad reach for many people. The shapes that look like puzzle pieces are abstract and organic shapes. In some cases, you can identify profiles, or a fruit, someone’s arm, part of a hand.
It’s a fairly open idea that allows for multiple associations with the work. Someone might see it from a vegetative, natural perspective. Others might see it as popular culture. Someone else might see it as a portrait of the sky and the earth.
Q: How does it feel to exhibit in Tucson?
A: For me, it’s a super interesting experience. I want to witness and experience what it’s like to be at the border and in the desert. This presentation is ideal because it brings in some organic colors. Everyone has a relationship with blue and green. I’ll bring them to a building temporarily, then they disappear, and this creates a visual memory with the other artists who are coming and the projects that will be carried out in the years ahead.
Q: Tucson is a city with a lot of dialogue and a migration hub. At times, murals here call for justice or are deeply rooted in local culture. Is your proposal refreshing and different?
A: There is room for everyone. In Tucson, there are many social murals that are completely valid and necessary for the community, but other voices are also important because they add to the visual dialogue found throughout the city.
You can see something figurative or something abstract. All of that contributes to the vision of the city, of the border, and to the relationship between art and public art. The more voices, the more important it is. That’s why the artists who will be creating the murals this year are completely different.
Q: You’ve lived much of your life outside Venezuela. How has your relationship with your country of origin changed through your art?
A: I lived in Venezuela until I was 18 or 19. I decided to go to the United States to study for my bachelor’s and then my master’s, and afterward I lived in New York. I would return to Venezuela to visit my parents. When Hugo Chávez’s government began, things became very difficult for many people, and 7 million people have left Venezuela. Then my parents died. I didn’t see a reason to return. I received a scholarship to Germany in 2003. After being here for a year, I stayed because it worked better for me than New York and it’s a little more affordable.
Q: Was it difficult, as an immigrant, to establish yourself in the art world in those major cities?
A: Yes, it’s difficult to break in, but I think all artists who have a certain ambition and want to share what they’re doing with the public give everything they have to exhibit their work. Yes, it’s a lot, a lot of public and social work, in addition to the work in the studio. I was quite fortunate. People received me well, they liked the work from the beginning. It’s a blessing that I’m able to work as an artist.
Q: Do you hold on to things from your Venezuelan culture?
A: Here in Berlin, there are Venezuelan restaurants. Of course, I also buy P.A.N. flour (precooked corn flour used to make arepas, cachapas, hallaquitas, bollos and other traditional Venezuelan dishes).
I listen to Venezuelan music. I watch YouTube programs about what’s happening, I read the Venezuelan newspaper online. The earthquake was horrible. I’m communicating with my family and friends. I have a connection with Venezuela. I haven’t gone back because of how difficult the situation is. But I don’t forget Venezuela. I’m always connected to it.
Q: What message would you like to send to Tucsonans who are waiting to see this new creative work at MOCA?
A: I think the best thing is that this project is about to begin and that it has a long reach. I think it will become a tradition. It’s an honor for me to be the first. What’s coming is that many artists will be able to share their voices, their images. They will all be ephemeral, so no one will keep the wall forever.
🎨 Fourth Wall Series of Murals
🖼️ What: Fourth Wall Series of Murals is a rotating exhibit of large-scale murals on the exterior of MOCA Tucson.
📅 When: 2026–2028. The first installation, by Arturo Herrera, will be on view from Sept. 26, 2026 through March 26, 2027.
📍 Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson, 265 S. Church Ave., Tucson.
🎟️ Tickets to visit the museum: $10 general admission; $5 for seniors, students and military. Youth enter for free. Admission is free on Sundays.
🔗 More information: MOCA Tucson
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