Born in Chicago, Desi Mundo is a known spray paint educator, hip-hop cultural diplomat and the founder of the Community Rejuvenation Project, a pavement to policy mural organization that has produced more than 300 murals throughout the Bay Area as well as nationally and internationally. Desi has been a spray can artist and muralist for the past 30 years. He merges studies of space, balance and transparency within his unique stylized letters and masks with a strong foundation in cultural engagement, community reflection and rooted spirituality.

 

Desi’s work has been shown at Depaul University, the St. George Art Museum and the Block Museum at Northwestern University. His largest mural, the “Universal Language” galvanized the Oakland, CA community in the struggle against gentrification resulting in $20 million in community benefits, as documented in the feature documentary film “Alice Street.” Desi’s legacy as an educator and youth worker in K-12 schools spans two decades. He has been awarded the Individual Artist grant from the City of Oakland, CA eight times. He served as a hip-hop cultural ambassador to Egypt through the Next Level program of the US State Department in 2017. 

 

In 2020, Desi completed his tallest mural "AscenDance," a 90' tall piece on the Greenlining Institute, followed by a 25’ tall, block-long mural “East Bay Rising Together” for Kaiser Permanente in 2021.

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Throughout the years as an artist, Desi has had the honor of growing alongside many organizations and artists. To learn about some of them, please click below:

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• Stephan Smith  

• Spencer Wilkinson 

• Dave Kim

• Urban Tilth

• Brandon Gabriel 

• Twin Walls Mural Co.

• Priya Handa 

• Vero d. Orozco 

• Pochino Press 

• Greenlining Institute 

• Malonga Center 

• 206 Zulu 

• Trust Your Struggle Collective

• John Christy 

• Digidad Rebelde 

• Pancho Pescador

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