1. For immediate
release
Contact person: Mario Gonzalez Jr.
Artist & Legendary Graffiti Writer
Email: highergliffs@yahoo.com
Blog: mariogonzalezjr.wordpress.com/
Website: www.mariogonzalezjr.com/
Mario Gonzalez Jr. Leaving Permanent Mark on Art
History (including a U.S. Embassy)
CHICAGO, IL, July 17, 2014 — Mario Gonzalez Jr. has been painting in public for more 30
years, which is more than about any 40-something artist can say. He started building his reputation
as a legendary graffiti writer while still in elementary school in Chicago and established himself
within a decade as an innovator, teacher and artist with a talent seen in very few people.
Gonzalez is in the middle of his world tour that has jumped the globe. He’s preparing for shows in
Paris and Berlin, after just returning from Mexico, France, Poland, Germany and Italy. In
Germany, artists from more than 20 countries meet every year for the International Meeting of
Styles, the biggest graffiti festival in the world. Festival Founder Manuel Gerullis said, “Mario is
an Old-School-Original. Aside from his street-credibility as a Graffiti writer, his style represents
traditional Wildstyle. Mario’s style, technique, speed of painting and history makes him the
optimal festival representer. He is a great entertainer!” The U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt
sponsored Gonzalez again for the festival this year. The embassy also invited him along with two
German artists to design and paint a mural representing German-American friendship. “Mario is a
delight to work with, a true artist, and cultural ambassador. The lovely mural is a first for a U.S.
Embassy or Consulate in Germany,” said Jeffrey Hill, Public Affairs Officer.
Mario is continually working his new personal experiences into his art. Recently, he climbed to the
peak of Poland’s Giewont Mountain and made limited edition prints with French artist Michel
Cornu, which add to his technique and vision as his work continually evolves.

2. About Mario: Artist and Graffiti Writer Mario Gonzalez Jr. grew up absorbing beautiful murals
and vast inner city decay playing among Chicago bridges and abandoned buildings. As a second
generation graffiti writer, he picked up a marker at age 11 and started scrawling. Soon, subways
and freight trains became the natural venue for him to express himself. Mario received a full
scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He’s traveled the globe with his
homemade markers and brushes painting subways, murals, performing, teaching and showing
works in galleries and museums. His work inspires followers and copycats. It has shown in Asia,
Europe, and North and South America in museums, galleries, graffiti history books, collectors’
homes, countless outdoor walls, elite fairs such as Art Basel Miami, and on NBC TV drama
Chicago Fire, which based a character on him in 2013. For more information, contact Mario or
visit his blog at mariogonzalezjr.wordpress.com/, or his website www.mariogonzalezjr.com/