Houston is packed with business, and along with it, commercial buildings. But take a city like Houston, which also boasts a robust arts community and you'll find that even a nondescript 30-year-old commercial building can serve as a canvas to Houston's creative.

Standing more than 60 feet tall and 180 feet wide, Artist Sebastien "Mr. D" Boileau took his vision for the mural, titled "Preservons La Creation" (Let's Preserve the Creation), to 2800 San Jacinto Street.

There, he created Houston's largest mural to date.

Through a partnership with the Texan-French Alliance for the Art's "Open Door" project and the Midtown District, the self-taught artist from Paris got to work. With the assistance of George Holder, Erick Calvio and two 65-foot boom lifts, Boileau applied more than 500 cans of spray paint and 150 gallons of wall paint throughout the month of May to realize the piece.
The result is a staggering portrait of God, arms outstretched, spray paint can in hand, along 8,000 square feet.

The catch? The building is for sale and will most likely be torn down to make way for a higher density property. But Urban Real Estate Developer Adam Brackman, who invited Boileau to paint the building, said in a statement that he'll continue to enlist muralists to enliven a neighborhood, even if temporary.

"The highest and best use for that property is higher density. But graffiti brings attention to the beauty that be there," Brackman told the Houston Chronicle.

* Photo courtesy of Matthew Landry