ARLINGTON, Texas — Artist Juan Velazquez didn’t commit the exact dimensions to memory.
“I think it’s like 55 feet wide and like 14 feet high,” he said.
But he won’t ever forget the cold he experienced while painting this massive mural in Arlington.
"I had to take breaks and go inside to warm up," Velazquez said.
He painted the mural, which he says symbolizes the legendary “Don’t mess with Texas” attitude, during a frozen week in February.
It’s a big mural depicting a big moment.
The City of Arlington previously said his painting -- of what Texas Rangers fans will forever know as “The Punch” -- violates city code. In a tweet sent Wednesday afternoon, though, Velasquez wrote that Arlington Mayor Jim Ross told him the mural is "definitely staying."
For a while there, it looks like it wouldn't.
"I’m thinking like, 'Oh my God, we’re going to have to take down the mural,'" Velazquez said of the scare Arlington City Council gave him earlier this week. “At the same time I’m thinking, 'I’m not taking that mural down regardless what they say.'"
The mural shows the moment in 2016 when then-Texas Ranger second baseman Rougned Odor lost his temper over bat flips and aggressive slides from their Toronto Blue Jays rivals.
Commemorating that moment, the well-known North Texas artist painted Odor’s flying fist, and Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista’s grimacing face on the side of the soon-to-open second location of Gilberto’s Taco Shop, in the 600 block of W. Park Row.
"I never once thought about the mural being something bad," said Gilberto’s owner, Jose Ruiz. "I always thought about it like art."
When Ruiz applied for pre-opening permits to put up signs at his new location, the City of Arlington denied them -- because, according to city code, painted murals are only permitted inside the downtown or entertainment district boundaries.
This Gilberto’s location is being opened just outside downtown.
As such, Ruiz was told he would not be able to obtain permits as long as the mural is up.
"What do you mean we can’t have murals outside the downtown area?" Velazquez said he thought at the time. "Like, what is this? I thought this was still America! I’m not taking this thing down."
Velazquez has a lot of followers, and his posts about the issue sparked anger on social media.
Ruiz was flummoxed too. He said he had no issues opening his first Gilberto’s in Arlington in 2019.
“I love it here,” he said.
And the mural is doing what Ruiz and Velazquez hoped it would: They said the mural is already drawing people to Arlington. Velazquez said he's often tagged in social media posts from people posing in front of it.
“We already have enough stuff in our society that divides people," the artist said. "This actually brings people together."
He added: "There’s other things to worry about than this.”