Artist paints Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. onto this popular Wynwood mural
You know you’ve made it when there’s a mural of your face in Wynwood.
There’s the Tupac mural. The Peso Pluma mural. The towering Jimmy Butler mural. The Lionel Messi mural. And the other Messi mural. And the other other Messi mural.
Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. was the latest addition to the basketball team’s unofficially official mural -- featuring the whole roster, past players, Covid-19 healthcare workers and the Tiger King caressing a big cat -- in Wynwood. Artist Kyle Holbrook, who has been painting eclectic murals on the building at 3500 NW Fifth Avenue for years, scaled a ladder Thursday to put the final touches on Jaquez’s portrait, despite the windy weather.
It’s a rite of passage of sorts for Jaquez, who made his NBA debut this season. When Messi arrived to South Florida to play for Inter Miami this summer, artists welcomed the soccer superstar with a slew of murals. This mural Holbrook’s first public artwork in Miami since returning from a trip painting around the world.
“He’s the new rookie so he’s going to make it on the mural,” Holbrook said while painting the jersey.
The mural on the building, which is owned by Pinnacle Housing, has been evolving since 2015, Holbrook said. He would repaint it with the help from sponsors each year ahead of Art Basel.
In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Holbrook said he was brainstorming with Louis Wolfson III, the Pinnacle co-founder, about ways to promote mask wearing. The result was a 60-foot mural of the entire Heat roster wearing masks (except for the portrait of Tyler Herro, because Holbrook still wanted the snarl on his face to show.)
Since them, the Heat fans and players have come around to see how Holbrook has updated the mural with new players and viral moments from games, like the infamous photo taken in 2021 of Heat players waiting outside the Nuggets locker room. The masks have come off. Previous players have been painted over. New players have been added. Players wear new jerseys. But the healthcare workers, Tiger King and Herro’s snarl remain the same.
“Sports can bring people together from all different social, political, racial backgrounds,” he said. “Sports unite people.”
While he’s a big Heat fan today, Holbrook grew up in Pittsburgh with dreams of becoming an artist. In his hometown, he started the nonprofit MLK Community Mural Project to get youth involved in arts and out of trouble, he said. He brought the organization to Miami when he moved 16 years ago.
Holbrook said its heartwarming to know that the community appreciates the mural. While he painted on the ladder, fans got out of their car to take photos of the artwork.
“It feels great. It’s something that Miami is really proud of,” he said. “This is home. To have something here that really represents Miami is important to me.”
This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
