Armed with an impressive resume of corporate city and county commissions, the street artist known as GONZO247 has done his part to document the Houston Astros’ aborted run to take back the World Series trophy.

American League Champions for two of the last three seasons (World Series champs in 2017), the Astros ran into a congressional roadblock known as the Washington Nationals, who now have their World Series celebratory parade in their rear-view mirror.

Using nothing but awe-inspiring talent, a spray can, and the occasional brush, Gonzo’s (and others’) recent works have sent Astros fans scurrying around the Bayou City in a “Where’s Waldo?”-like frenzy, hunting down Houston’s latest team-inspired masterpieces.

Related: Donkeeboy Adds His Astros Street Art to Houston Landscape

Paint Too Proud To Beg

Mario E. Figueroa, Jr., born and raised in the East End area of Houston, found his first exposure to art as a kid in the late 1970s. Countless trips to visit family several blocks away required driving by a massive landmark mural in his neighborhood, Leo Tanguma’s “The Rebirth of Our Nationality” on Canal Street.

Enraptured by the burgeoning hip-hop culture of the 1980s, Figueroa, a lifelong Astros fan, zeroed in on the visual language of that musical genre, graffiti art, and turned his passion into a vocation.

Gonzo quickly gained the respect and appreciation of the community, earning dozens of commissions throughout the decades, including prestigious ones from the City of Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Houston Zoo, Public Library, and the cities of Miami, and Monterrey, Mexico.

Brush With Greatness

Leo Tanguma’s original 1974 “Rebirth” mural celebrating the Mexican-American experience faded with time and was white-washed in the summer of 2017. Gonzo took over the re-visioning of the artist’s inspirational work. Commissioned by Harris County, with Tanguma himself joining Gonzo on the 240-by-18-foot block-long work, the project was completed in spring 2018, using paintbrushes to add detail.

Photo Credit: Molly Glentzer/Houston Chronicle

Astro-ke of Genius

Recognizing the 47-year-old’s talent and his growing popularity in the city, the Houston Astros struck a deal with Gonzo and other local street artists to create a new Astro-centric mural each time the Crush City nine won a 2019 playoff game.

Reid Ryan, the Astros’ president of business operations, explained his team’s postseason graffiti project, dubbed “Paint H-Town,” at its kickoff: “Each time the #Astros win a postseason game, a local graffiti artist will paint a mural for that game,” he tweeted.

The goal, of course, was to add 11 previously-approved undisclosed new mural locations around the city, equaling the number of postseason victories needed to bring back the World Series trophy to Houston. The ‘Stros fell short by one.

Gonzo knew that after World Series Game 5‘s seventh inning, he had to pull things together quickly for his assigned mural #10 at Pearland Town Center. He started at three that morning, and after more than 12 hours, added the finishing touches late that Monday afternoon.

Gonzo, posing in front of mural #10, October 27, following the Astros’ 7-1 win over the Nationals in Washington, DC

In his wall rendering, Gonzo took the team’s “Take It Back” slogan and stylized it into a constellation that tells the colorful story of Game 5 in the tail of a flaming baseball comet. His depiction features the numbers 44 (for Yordan Alvarez, who hit a key two-run homer), and 45 for winning pitcher Gerrit Cole.

Before packing up his El Camino with his tools of the trade that evening, Gonzo happily posed for a fan and her son in front of the newly-minted mural. She had just seen the mural’s location revealed on social media. “We don’t ever have anything this cool,” the fan told Gonzo.

“It’s been amazing to see the response [to the Astros murals],” Gonzo told the Houston Chronicle in late October. “Art is such a great vehicle for community engagement. It really gives a sense that we’re all in this together, and that’s really the power of art.”