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Manatí.- By 2016, architect Samuel González-Rodríguez set out to do a project that, through art, would attract tourism to his town of Manatí. At the same time, the project would help transform areas and structures that were deteriorating. He did his first test piece at a bus stop. The reception from the neighbors was so great that it paved the way for him to develop Pintalto, at the Alto del Cabro community.

“In March 2017 we started doing the first Pintalto project. The name came up from literally ‘painting above.’ By then, it took us about two months. We mostly painted at the community during the weekends with help from the Public-Private Partnership, the neighbors themselves, and volunteer groups,” said the author of the artwork Color Esperanza (“Color of Hope”). This was the impressive artistic feat that attracted tourism to a community that was not regularly visited, thus achieving one of the main objectives of its initiative.

Although Manatí was the origin and reason why Samuel created his spectacular macromurals, it was one of the artworks he had made outside of La Atenas de Puerto Rico (“The Athens of Puerto Rico”) which popularized the project. This is Brisa Tropical (“Tropical Breeze”), which is part of Yaucromatic, in Yauco. It is the best known among them, with the highest community and tourist impact on the Island. This is because the urban art of Pintalto has also spread to the municipalities of Las Piedras (Tierra Luz), Aguadilla (Amanecer Borincano, “Borincano Dawn”), Río Grande (inspired by the flora and fauna of El Yunque) and Añasco. It has replicated the purpose of beautifying areas and making marginalized groups visible.

The next step for Samuel will be his debut as a writer with Casitas de colores. It is a book in which he will share in detail the history of his project and the challenges that arose when carrying out the work. There he will present his sketches and relay “what nobody got to know.” In the meantime, he enjoys the satisfaction of seeing the success of the project within the communities. They have shown a decrease in crime and an increase in tourist and economic activity. All thanks to the influx of people who come to admire the colorful mosaics and take photos with them. However, he laments the deterioration that his original artwork in Manatí has suffered. He does not lose hope that some sponsor will sign up to restore the area.

“I think that one of the fundamental things that [the project] has, apart from the aesthetics, is how beautiful people feel. It’s seeing how people from any type of social class, no matter their income, their job or their career, it all takes a backseat when they visit these places. And then people from all kinds of backgrounds congregate at the same place. And it’s something that gives hope,” says the artist. He shares his work and events through Facebook and Instagram as “Pintalto.”