The Dream Monster was first born when its creator was in first or second grade, a six-legged dinosaur with the same sleepy eyes and goofy smile everyone recognizes today.
“I always had like really bad allergies,” Matthew Jay Martinez, an El Paso artist, said. “So when people would go outside to play during recess or lunch, I would stay inside a lot of times and I would draw. People would ask me to draw them stuff.”
“And so I would draw a lot of cartoons for people, you know, the traditional classic cartoons. But I would also work on my own characters.”
In 2010, while living in Los Angeles, creator Matthew Jay Martinez developed a new evolution of the character, with the same face but a different body and identity, after well-known street artists encouraged him to create a recognizable character of his own. The creature began popping up across walls before eventually making its way back home six years later.
Today, El Pasoans can recognize the colorful creature all over the city, from Urban Movement Dance Academy on the East Side to Deserto Central and West, down to Del Norte Courts Motel in South Central and even outside some homes.
Coming back to El Paso, Martinez opened a contemporary art gallery called Dream Chasers Club in 2015. That same year, he painted the Dream Monster during Chalk the Block on the El Paso Museum of Art’s blue wall, just down the street from his gallery on South Santa Fe Street.
After the gallery closed, The Dream Monster hibernated for six years while Martinez operated a vintage store in Downtown El Paso with his then-wife. Over the last two and a half years, the character has slowly started appearing again.
Most recently, Martinez painted alongside other El Paso artists during Borderland Jam in April 2026.
“I find my most peace when I’m doing this,” Martinez said. “My mind quiets when I’m painting, and I think it’s like meditating for me. And I think that really motivates me. Like I said, I took six years off from doing it and life felt so chaotic, and now I feel like I’m getting back into just kind of flowing, you know, and it feels really good.”
The Dream Monster made its biggest appearance yet in May at Commercial Screen Printing Inc., 900 Magoffin Ave. in Segundo Barrio. Using eight gallons of paint and six spray cans, Martinez completed the mural in five days during a week of rain and intense heat. The mural measures 14 feet, 4 inches tall and 130 feet, 11 inches long.
Martinez said the printing shop created an Instagram poll asking people which artist they would like to see paint the warehouse, and he received support from business owners, shops and restaurants where he had painted before.
This isn’t a monster of sorrow like Frankenstein or Edward Scissorhands. The Dream Monster spreads kindness, inspires creativity and leaves a little magic wherever it pops up.
“I think the Dream Monster really represents just positivity, as corny as it kind of sounds, even for me when I say it, I feel corny saying it, but it really is that,” Martinez said.
He doesn’t sign his murals anymore, hoping that when people come across his work and later see it on social media, they’re able to connect the dots and sprinkle a little magic into their day-to-day lives.
“This isn’t like little kids. These are adults that have stresses and worries in life and problems. And I think for that split second, for them to be a kid again and find that magic and be like, oh my God, like, I’ve seen this thing before.”
In a city known for its cultural artwork, Martinez stays true to himself and his beginnings by continuing to paint his playful pop-art monster.
“I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum kind of mentality,” Martinez said. “I’ve never really let people influence what I want to do.”
“It’s taken me a long time to get to a point to realize this is equally important in the sense to inspire.”
Gaby Velasquez may be reached at gavelasquez@elpasotimes.com; @gabyavelasquez on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: ‘Dream Monster’ evolves from childhood sketch to mural icon in El Paso
Reporting by Gaby Velasquez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
