Hector Corvarrubias is Tracy’s hometown street artist who is gaining international recognition for the professional quality of his murals.
Working under the name of Cova Street Art, he has completed an increasing number of murals painted on walls of businesses, mostly in downtown Tracy. They include a patriotic mural at Sixth Street and Central Avenue painted for the Cose family, a mural in the alley next to the Grand Theatre and most recently, a mural with a musical theme in the parking lot at the rear of Main Street Music.
If you want to see Hector at work, check out the parking lot next to the Town and Country restaurant on West 10th Street. For another 10 days, you will see him creating the red dragon that is the national symbol of Wales.
It’s no coincidence that the Welsh dragon is being painted on the side of the building. The building’s owner, Byron Alvarez. is 100 percent Welsh on his mother’s side. Betty Ann Alvarez’s parents, Herbert and Gladwen Maddocks, were both natives of Wales who came to Tracy in the early years of the 20th Century to establish a dairy north of town.
“I had another street artist to paint the first mural on the wall six years ago,” Byron told me as we stood in the parking lot Wednesday morning to admire Hector’s mural when it was one-third completed.
“The first mural six years ago had a Portuguese theme because of the many Tracyites of Portuguese heritage,” Byron said. “I wanted to have a new mural painted every five years, and I couldn’t think of a better theme for the second mural than a salute to Wales.”
Hector is a native of the city of Guadalupe, Mexico, He came to Tracy eight years ago to be with a cousin and other relatives .
“I’ve been interested in art since I was a boy, and murals are a form of art becoming more popular,” he said.
In addition to murals, he has created symbols for organizations and businesses, including Hella Pie Pizza Co. on West 10th Street. a “hoodie” sweatshirt for a firm owned by Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors
Over the years, Hector has been a successful participant in the highly competitive Art Basel street art festival in Miami, Fla. He plans to enter an international street art competition in Manchester, England, this spring.
When not practicing his profession, you will find Hector riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle with friends on weekends.
Right now, he is concentrating on finishing the mural on West 10th Street.
• Sam Matthews, Tracy Press publisher emeritus, can be reached at 830-4234 or by email at shm@tracypress.com.