Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco - A new community art project near Guadalajara, Jalisco, will aim to beautify the local urban environment and break a Guinness World Record at the same time. Paint company Comex is sponsoring an effort to create the largest mural in the world in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, about 30 kilometers southwest of the Jalisco capital.

The project is part of the company's México Bien Hecho (Well-Made Mexico) program, whose goal is to recover and beautify public spaces with urban art and the colors of Comex. "...it will be a 40,000-square-meter work painted by around 50 artists and the community. It will take two to three months to make, if the weather lets us progress," said program director Gilberto Alcaraz.

The new mural will be twice the size of another "macro mural" Comex sponsored in a neighborhood of Pachuca, capital city of the state of Hidalgo, where a dull and dreary hillside was transformed into a celebration of color by painting 209 homes, representing a surface area of 20,000 square meters. From afar, the swirling riot of color can be appreciated as one interconnected and monumental mural.

However, the Tlajomulco mural will differ from the Pachuca project because it will be linear in nature. Therefore, in order to fully appreciate it and understand its meaning, art lovers will have to follow the mural's path from start to finish.

At a press conference to announce the new work, Alcaraz said that the idea for the large-scale project came from a conversation he had last year with Mayor Alberto Uribe.

Alcaraz explained that Comex had already supported the painting of underpasses and walls in Tlajomulco but Uribe wanted something much bigger.

"He asked me whether we were willing to support him. I told him we were, but when he explained his idea I never considered the scope it would have," Alcaraz said.

"His people started researching to find out what the biggest art intervention was in order to beat it. Then they looked for a place and managed to get a large space made up of public places, houses and private buildings," he added.

The cost of the massive mural, including the number of cans and liters of paint that will be needed, is still unclear, but Alcaraz said that whatever the price, it will be worth it because the project will benefit many Mexicans.

He said the México Bien Hecho program, which has supported art projects in 13 states over the past two years, has transformed run-down public spaces and in turn changed people's moods and outlook on life.

The transformed spaces have the capacity to inspire and they also foster improved security, learning, sports and health in the local community, he said.

This year, Comex has a budget of 15 million pesos (US $810,000) for its program which will also support initiatives in other parts of the country.

Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Chiapas, La Paz in Baja California Sur and Zacatecas are among other locations set to receive an injection of Comex color in 2018.