Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez is a visual artist, designer, and public speaker blending elements of street and pop culture with “Neo Indigenous” aesthetics to create installations, murals, mixed media, graffiti, and digital art, and curate talks that center the experiences of disadvantaged youth, immigrants, and first-generation college students.
Marka27’s invigorating work is defined by its vivid portraits of BIPOC people decorated in a mélange of contextually relevant caricatures, icons, and flora. The stoic portraits of the people are often juxtaposed immediately with popular cartoon characters from the U.S., a commentary on the idealistic or didactic narratives we are taught via media as opposed to the real narratives of people in North America’s marginalized communities. Born in Juarez, Mexico, Marka27 was raised in East Dallas, Texas, where his career as an international tag artist and muralist began in a neighborhood filled with gangs, drugs, and violence. He would later win a full-ride scholarship to attend The School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and study under Magdalena Compos Pons.
Marka27 currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife, Liza, and their kids. Together, they founded Street Theory—an award-winning creative agency promoting authentic experiences through the curation and production of events that empower communities by working with some of today’s most talented contemporary artists.