A new mural by world-renowned and Boyle Heights-raised Robert Vargas was unveiled today at Theodore Roosevelt High School.
The mural, titled “Believe You Can and You’re Halfway There,” took the artist just three days to complete. Although less intensive than his other recently completed mural in Little Tokyo, Vargas said with this mural, he hoped to inspire students to look like the man pictured, throwing his graduation cap upward with pride and a smile.
“In the end, it’s intuitively trying to catch an emotion. The joy that people here can look forward to when they graduate and give them something to aspire to,” Vargas said.
Vargas hopes his work also instills self-acceptance in the students and helps them recognize their own value and potential.
“I want these kids to know that they have a future. There’s a lot of bright kids that come out of here and I want to let them know that they’re on the right path. They just need to stick to it, and if they do, only good things will happen,” Vargas said.
Roosevelt students, who just celebrated the school’s centennial, were in high spirits at the unveiling. They watched almost in awe as Vargas masterfully filled a white school wall with vibrant color in wide-reaching strokes while student DJs played music. Miguel Jones, a Roosevelt freshman, was surprised that Vargas started and finished the mural so quickly but saw a depth to the artwork.
“It looks pretty good,” Jones said while having lunch on Wednesday. “I think I see the idea of flourishment. We see someone throwing up their hat during graduation, which maybe means acceptance for your final frontier before you go out into the real world.”
Mariah Delgado was walking to her advisory class when she noticed Vargas adding the final touches to his piece. Being so close to her graduation, the high school senior identified with the work, calling it beautiful.
“It’s amazing. It reminds me of being independent. Being able to complete high school it’s a crazy feeling,” Delgado said. Dalilah Canche, a sophomore, agreed.
“I think it’s really cool that he did the mural at our school. To me, it represents accomplishing school and moving on to the next step in your life. I think it’s something a lot of people can relate to,” Canche said.
The tossed graduation cap, frozen in motion at the edge of the mural, has a small ‘71 on its tassel in honor of Vargas’ father, who graduated from Roosevelt that year.
Erin Vargas, the muralist’s sister, said she and her family were “really proud” of her brother.
“It’s a constant reminder that [the students] can dream and believe anything they aspire to be. I think we need more of this in the city,” Erin said.
Vargas gave the commencement speech for the ArtCenter College of Design and received an honorary doctorate degree on April 27th. That same day, he was awarded the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Luminary Award from his alma mater.
The artist plans to unveil another mural in Boyle Heights next week and paint around Asia alongside Vans, one of the artist’s sponsors, this summer.
Vargas said coming home, despite where his career takes him, is paramount to his mission to give back to the place he came from.
“I want [students] to know that it’s ok to go away when they become successful and then come back and do good things. They could still resume other parts of their passions, but sometimes the destination is the community, too.”
Youth reporter Angela Caliz contributed to the reporting of this article.
