Nuestra Señora del Desierto

I just found this yesterday. I heard about it a long time ago but was not aware it still existed. This is Nuestra Señora del Desierto by the now internationally famous artist, El Mac (Miles MacGregor), who started his career as a graffiti/street artist in Phoenix. He now is based in L.A. and travels all over the world doing commissioned work. This was done in 2006.

It’s on the steel security door of a tattoo shop so when the shop is open, the mural isn’t visible. Luckily, for me, they were closed on the Fourth of July. Almost 2 years ago, I wrote about El Mac’s Phoenix Goddess, which is just across the street from here on the back of the historic Laird Apartments (these are not the sorts of apartments typical of Phoenix, aren’t they pretty?):

Maybe you remember her? She’s still there, we checked her out but this photo is from almost 2 years ago. She’s not in a location where you would likely just come across her, you have to be looking.

It’s a huge one and the background of the mural matches the actual scenery in this alley.

Here’s a few more of the Phoenix El Macs that I have posted in the past.

This one on the Chocolate Factory (above) looks a little different now as it is surrounded by David Quan’s (also known as Luster Kaboom) Blue Ooze.

This was a collaboration between El Mac and Kofie, on Pravus Gallery on Roosevelt Row.

This one (above), sadly, no longer exists. A few months ago, the new owners of the building~not well-liked anyway~overpainted it, to a huge uproar in the local arts community. As the article linked above on David Quan states:

“Miles MacGregor, or El Mac, is a local celebrity in the street art world; he and his work have traveled internationally and the few times he’s thrown a mural up on a wall in Phoenix (another one of his murals is on the side of Pravus gallery on Roosevelt Row), it’s understood by the arts community that it’ll stay, untouched, for as long as possible. ”

In fact, I’ve been contacted before for permission to use the above photo (granted, of course) since the mural’s sad demise.

This one (below) is, I think, the most recent one El Mac has done in Phoenix, in December, 2011, on Calle 16.