About | Hirakunyc

I'm a Brooklyn-based artist and the creator behind HIRAKUNYC. I’ve been into art since I was four, which means I’ve been doodling on things I wasn’t supposed to for most of my life (lol). My pre-K teachers weren’t exactly fans of my “creative expression” on their worksheets, but one of them told my mom I was destined to be an artist. Next thing I knew, I’ve got an easel, some paint, and zero plans to stop making a mess ever again.

Photograph by: Aaron "ignatius" Ortiz

With the help of my junior high school art teacher, I auditioned for Brooklyn High School of the Arts. In my senior year of high school, I started gallery hopping all over NYC with a group of classmates and Founded/directed of Cre8tive YouTH*ink, Jerry Otero.

Which soon turned into working for the non-profit organization Cre8tive YouTH*ink (Click for info), which led me to gain experience with mentoring the youth and painting murals.

Photograph by: Jerry Otero, 2014

In September of 2015 I was given the opportunity by JMZ Walls to work on my first wall. From that day on I create HIRAKUNYC and go by Hira. Now I have a collection of characters called "Hirakus", which are these characters below.

I created this cat monster named "Creep" who is the main character under HIRAKUNYC. He was created after the loss of my cat Shadow. Whom was my best friend. To keep him alive I made him into Creep and started to create friends along the way. Now I have a family of characters! :)

People always ask me "why the name Hiraku?" Well to be honest, it was just a name I used as a kid gaming. There was nothing really deep about it. As I started to become more included in the art scene, I decided I didn't want to go by my real name. Like most artists, I used a name that would keep people guessing. When I started doing street art, I said why not go by Hiraku? Now I shorten it to Hira since it was more fitting with my real name, and I kept HIRAKUNYC (one word) as my brand.

Behind the scenes of HIRAKUNYC there's a girl who is running a small business, and still creating personal works for herself. If you would love to see my personal portfolio, commissions, and personal CV please click portfolio.