Serkit Studios: Painting Culture Across South Texas
- Abigail Muniz-Garcia
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
(This article was written by Abigail Muñiz-Garcia and was featured in the October 2025 issue of Explore Harlingen Magazine.)
Adrian Rodriguez remembers drawing since elementary school. It wasn’t until about 18 years ago that he started painting.
“I was mostly just drawing for fun. I never took art class in school. I was just drawing on my own. I took my first art class in college, and that’s when it first clicked that that was something I could do,” Rodriguez said.
The Edinburg artist, whose specialty is airbrushing and murals, dedicates himself to his art full-time, having left teaching a year ago after eight years as an educator. While a teacher at Port Isabel Junior High School, Rodriguez left his mark at the campus with two murals that students painted under his direction.
“I drew the whole thing and designed the murals with the help of the students. We painted together,” he said.
Rodriguez also earned the District Teacher of the Year distinction for the 2021-2022 school year for Point Isabel Independent School District.
He has done murals from South Padre Island all the way to Mission with his newest piece having just been unveiled in the downtown area of Harlingen in August.
The mural, which took about a month to paint with sketching and deliberation on design happening two weeks prior to that, is an achievement for Rodriguez, who also goes by his artist name “Serkit.”
When asked how it feels to have his artwork in the city of Harlingen, he said it is amazing.
“I’ve thought about doing it (a mural in the downtown Harlingen area) for like ten years. Every time I went to Art Night or Market Days, I always thought about having a mural (there)… I thought about it so much, and it came true,” he said.
The mural, which is reminiscent of vintage-style linen postcards of the 1930s through the 1950s, has a different scene or element of the city in each letter like the Iwo Jima monument or the Jackson Street sign. It is located on North Commerce Street.
Rodriguez draws inspiration from Mexican American culture and the Pre-Columbian era.
“I also like fantasy and sci-fi type of art like Frank Frazetta,” he said.
One of the biggest challenges Rodriguez has had to face as an artist who is dedicated full-time to his craft, has been turning his talent into a business.
“That’s been tough. It’s not easy. It took me a long time to build the skills to airbrush and paint big murals and try to get paid for it,” he said.
As for what the future holds for Rodriguez, he’d like to venture out beyond the Valley. “I need to apply for bigger mural jobs, bigger cities outside of the Valley,” he said.
In the meantime, you can catch him at the Pulga de Alamo or city of Alamo flea market on Saturday and Sunday. There, he airbrushes shirts, pants, jackets and hats for customers. He also works out of his home studio and can airbrush other items like helmets, leather, automotive parts, “almost anything” as Rodriguez puts it.
You can also follow him on Instagram as serkitstudios or Facebook as Serkit Studios.
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