I’ve been “courting” Emilio Florentine for an interview for over a year, ever since I first met him at the no longer existing 660 Ramp #rip. I started checking out his work right after we met and he quickly became one of my favorite artists. Emilio Florentine paints flowers, that is all he does. Flowers on canvas, flowers on murals, and he even mentioned designing a tattoo for someone. His work is absolutely breathtaking, he literally beautifies Jersey City with his artistry.

We finally set up a time to meet at one of his latest murals in the Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood. When I approached the wall, I almost started crying. Maybe I am a little over-emotional sometimes, but his work is so vivid and pretty it instantly generate various emotions, and you just can’t look away. Emilio Florentine is so talented, but I don’t think he really knows it. He is a really humble dude.

We hung out by the mural for a little while, which is adjacent to Bone-In (a local food healthy food vendor), and they were so nice and fed us! We then went to explore some of his other murals, one of them off the beaten and path. I had a blast!

What’s your name? Emilio Florentine.

When did you start painting? I started spray painting when I was about 16.

How did you get into spray painting? Like most people, just looking at magazines, watching videos, and through skateboarding. You see it and just naturally want to try it yourself.

Did you study fine art? I started drawing at an early age and always stuck to it.  I took adult drawing classes as a kid after school in the evenings.

When did you start street art?   About 7 years ago.  My good friend Pawn and I did a few murals in Jersey City.

When did you start with the flower motifs? The flower motif started about five years ago. The concept came to me during Hurricane Sandy. The destruction on the day after the storm was crazy.  Trees and branches were blown over onto houses and littered the streets. I imagined what would happen to flowers during that storm, and thought it would be visually interesting to see them tossed through a storm in the middle of the night.  A lot of people were affected by the storm.  I decided in my work to have the flower represent a person and the explosion represent the energy they can suffer from a tragic event.  Simply I describe the concept as a “visual study of chaos within beauty”.

And so when was your first flower mural after that? I think that was down by the old Conrail line, I would just hike down on the weekends and find a interesting place to paint.

How did you feel after your first? I liked it. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.

Because that’s all you paint right? Yeah, I strictly paint flowers.

How come? As an artist it’s good to have a theme and style, something that people can recognize you by immediately.

So you learned art by yourself, like you didn’t go to school for it? 

I started drawing at an early age, and always kept with it.  I would draw from comic books with my friend Doaz One.  Then when it came time to art classes in school, I took em’ all.  I then went to School of Visual Arts for Graphic Design and Art.

Tell me about the mural we were just at. That mural is at Bone In Food at Johnston ave. and Whiton and is sponsored by the Jersey City Mural Program.

And how did that happen?  Bone In Food asked me to do it. They had recently moved into their new kitchen there.  Vir from Bone In Food had seen a painting I’d done at Thomas Carlsons 313 Gallery. They asked their landlord if we could have it on the side of the building and I asked the city if we could do it for the city mural program and everybody agreed and so that’s kind of how it happened.

Can you tell me about your screen printing company as well?  I own Jersey City Screen Printing which is a fine art and apparel printing company located at the Tenmarc building.

How do they find you? Online at JerseyCityScreenPrinting.com. and on the Instagrams.

So what inspires you? Do you have certain flowers you like to paint? On the weekends I like to get up early and walk around Downtown and I’ll find some flowers I like. Whether it be on someones porch or in the woods by the train tracks.  I’ll just come up with a razor blade. I won’t take a lot of your flowers; I’m just taking one or two.

So if you wake up in the morning and your flowers are gone it’s Emilio Florentine. 

Yeah, it might be. But I don’t take ‘em all,

Are you from Jersey City? No, I’m from Central Jersey, Somerville area.

And when did you move to Jersey City? When I was going to college, they had dorm rooms at Newport Pavonia.

How do you feel Jersey City has changed? It’s crazy to see a whole city change in a matter of 15 years.   I’ve seen a lot of good and bad changes from reduction in crime to over priced apartments.

Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot? I like White Star, they’ve got the best hot wings in town.

Can you tell me about the other murals that you have? Your collaboration with Pawn?

Pawn and I painted the Native American mural on Grand and Summit. That was the first mural for the Jersey City Mural Program. That whole area was populated by Native Americans back in the day.  Communipaw Ave. was an actual Indian trail.

Really? I didn’t know that. Yeah, so the Lenape Indians were living within that area and the Underground Railroad also ran through there. That area is very rich in history.

So what about the one we’re going to see now? This was just another weekend adventure.

If you could would you just be painting all the time? Yes, in a heartbeat.

What do you love so much about painting? I like the freedom and the adventure of painting. Something inside of me is satiated every time I paint.

Do you have any future plans? Keep on painting.

http://www.emilioflorentine.com

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