Houston's Public Art Has Never Been Better
Image: Todd Urban
This story is part of our “Reasons to Love Houston” package, published in the Spring 2025 issue.
The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs is in charge of making Houston sparkle and pop with public art—and 2024 was a big, well-funded year. The Civic Art Collection added nine new site-specific commissioned artworks, one at the Montrose Library and eight at IAH. Lucas Fang was named the 2024–2025 Houston Youth Poet Laureate, made possible by a $20,000 grant. MOCA partnered with Midtown and Bloomberg Philanthropies for HueMan:Shelter, an upcoming public art exhibition on homelessness, thanks in part to a $100,000 City Initiative grant. And 15 new Mini Murals were added in 2024, bringing the total number of UP Art Studio’s traffic control cabinet pieces to over 400, with an additional 40 currently in the works.
All you need to do to see these works is walk (or drive) around. Here are some of our favorite public art pieces in Houston, and where to find them.
Greetings from Houston by Daniel Anguilu
Heights
Even in the Heights, up there with downtown in terms of excellent public art, this mural stands out as particularly iconic. It’s got everything: an oil rig, cowboy cacti, a mixtape, a spaceship, and the artist’s signature geometric shapes. Take some time to play tourist in your own city and snap a selfie in front of this picture-perfect postcard.
3602 White Oak Dr
Image: Todd Urban
Lady Justice by Victor Ash
Downtown
Street Art for Mankind curates and maintains the Remembrance mural series by Copenhagen-based artist Victor Ash, the most striking of which is this portrait of a Black woman donning a blindfold, a sword in one hand and scales in the other. She’s surrounded by courthouses, a family law center, and the jury plaza: a stark reminder of who justice is meant for and who actually receives it.
1019 Congress St
Alief Swarm by Bennie Flores Ansell
Alief
Located inside the Alief Community Center, this piece combines the ethereal and natural with the material, featuring around a thousand butterflies made of transparent CNC-cut images of sneakers. It hangs from the ceiling, evoking the butterfly garden just outside. Ansell views the flock of colorful butterflies as representative of the Alief neighborhood itself, one of the most diverse in Houston.
11903 Bellaire Blvd
Image: Todd Urban
Twilight Epiphany by James Turrell
Rice University
Immersive and infinitely Instagrammable, Twilight Epiphany is one of the most beloved pieces of public art in Houston. Six days a week, the Skyspace undergoes a visual transformation, with LED lights brightening the space with an array of beautiful colors. It also pulls double duty as a performing arts venue, providing excellent acoustics for dance and music showcases.
Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Pavilion
Image: Todd Urban
The Dreamcatcher by Jesse Lott
Sunnyside
The late Jesse Lott, a pivotal figure in Houston art history for his work with Project Row Houses and a movement he referred to as “urban folk art,” designed this eye-catching sculpture for Sunnyside Health and Multi-Service Center. Constructed of wire, glass, and found objects, The Dreamcatcher delights the eye with its sun-catching, colorful lights and the way it changes depending on the angle from which you view it.
4410 Reed Rd
Image: Todd Urban
La Rivière by Aristide Maillol
Museum District
This reproduction of a dramatic Maillol original sits outside the Kinder Building’s Café Leonelli at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It’s hard to walk past it and not immediately think, “Girl, same.”
5500 Main St
