Life can be so magical at times, things just fall into place and you meet or encounter people you are supposed to. Fermin Mendoza is one of those people that I was meant to meet.

A few weeks ago, the Mayor posted a picture on his Instagram of a new mural by Route 440 painted by Fermin of the Pulaski Skyway. I remember seeing it and saying to myself “Wow, I would love to hear his story.” Now, Fermin is not big on social media, so I couldn’t find him anywhere.  I dropped the idea and figured we would cross paths one day. Two days later, I got a text message from Fermin, he introduced himself and told me he got my information from someone who is part of the city’s mural project. He invited me to come see his latest mural. I was completely blown away!! It was meant to be.

I came to meet Fermin two days later. You can tell by his artwork that he radiates positivity and he is such a pleasant and good person. We then decided to go to the first mural he did for the city by Ocean Ave. and then, something amazing happened. The woman who is portrayed in the mural and the one who inspired it, pulled up right in front (her father lives on the block).  And it was so incredible because Fermin and this woman haven’t seen each other in over a year. This was a reunion of sorts and I was able to interview her as well. While all this was happening, many people from the neighborhood came by to shake Fermin’s hand and say hello, he knew everyone and clearly everyone respected him and loved his work.

I am so honored that I was able to experience this and be in his presence. After a couple of rough days this interview woke me up and opened my eyes again to why I am doing what I am doing. Fermin, thank you.

What is your name?

Fermin Mendoza.

What do you do? 

Right now, I still have a fulltime advertising job, but I’m slowly getting into mural painting. Fine Arts has always been my passion.

How long have you been painting? Since I was a kid.

How did you get into it? 

It’s hard to say exactly how, but I always felt that I had to do it. As a child, I was born in Cuba, so I [had] a very rural beginning to my life. You know, it was a way to express myself and then I moved here like all good Cubans did….I kept my hand in and now I have a little bit more time so I want to pursue this more vigorously.

Can you tell me about this mural? 

Sure. This mural is about the Pulaski Highway [and] it’s also sort of a portrait of this area. This is only my second mural of this size at this point and time; it’s really a portrait of this area with the Pulaski Highway being a gritty icon, it sort of has an identity with Northern New Jersey surviving the swamp lands. What I think I’ve done here, I’ve tried to beautify it, I’ve tried to bring my Cuban roots to it with the colors and the brightness. I think it’s a melding of both worlds.

You’ve said you’ve only done two big murals right? How was the transition from traditional painting to mural painting? 

Right. It was fantastic. I think the biggest thrill for me was engaging the community, especially in my other mural where I felt that the community was reflected in my work. And that’s what I really want to do, whether it’s here on the Pulaski Highway, or on Ocean Avenue; I want the community to be able to see themselves in it and have a participatory experience.

Let’s take a drive to other mural!! Sure

Can you tell me about this one? 

The other mural started out as a portrait. In 2012, my goal was to do one portrait per day, [the plan] was to meet somebody, take their photo, do a small portrait, [and] get their approval of course. It turned out that I could only do one portrait every other day, so I ended up, 2012 happened to be a leap year, so I ended up with 183 portraits. And I felt really good about it; I felt that it was my entrée into the artistic community of Jersey City.

The name of the show which was held in 2013 at LITM was “Artist, Models, and Others,” which was basically everybody that I was meeting that whole year. One of the portraits that I did was of this girl Deborah and I included the motif of the Holland tunnel, “Welcome to Jersey City,” and then what happened—there was an open call for murals right here in Jersey City through the mayor’s office. One of my friends, Wysme Santos, was actually going to the meeting and said, “You got something?” and I said, “O-oh okay! Here it is.” And I sent in that one little portrait and it got accepted. So I said, “Wow, that’s great!” and then they said, “Do you have another one?” and I said, “W-woah! Yeah, I got this one.” And then this one got accepted. So it was sort of by chance, kind of, I was pursuing the murals and I knew about the open-calls. But my friend called me up the night before and said, “There’s a meeting tomorrow, can you come?” and I said, “No.” So I sent him JPEGs and that was the end of that.

This is Lashona, she is the woman pictured in this mural…

Do you live in Jersey City? 

Yes.

Can you tell me a little bit about your involvement with this mural? 

Well one day, my son came to me and he told me about this artist. And he said, “Ma, I want you to go to take a picture.” So I’m like, “Take a picture for what?” He said, “Because they gonna put you up on the wall. They want to do a mural of you on the wall.” I was excited and the artist came by my job, he said they had a few women that he wanted to take a picture of, you know Afro-American women. A couple days later, he sent me the email that I was chosen. But, I was really excited because I never could’ve imagined me being up on the wall on the mural. I was excited because my son thought about his mother because they could’ve put anybody famous, Oprah Winfrey, you know. But he said, “Why put somebody who doesn’t live here and that’s not from here on the wall?” It’s good to put somebody from here and people know and when they see and recognize it makes the excited also that Jersey City is thinking about people that are here.

And you’re beautiful so why wouldn’t you be on the wall? 

Thank you, thank you.

My first reaction, I was like, “This is beautiful.” 

And I get chills every time I drive down the block.

Does it make you feel good? 

It makes me feel good, it does.

How long have you been living in Jersey City? 

All my life.

How do you feel Jersey City has changed in the past couple of years? 

It is changing, you know, they’re trying to build up the community [as] far as fixing up properties and building up the streets. We do have to still work on the crime, ‘cause you know crime here has been getting high, but I believe that if people come together that it can work out. With the artists doing different work around Jersey City, it’s making Jersey City look much better. It’s beautifying the streets.

My father-in-law that lives right here, he is the elder and the minister of the church.

What church? 

Universal Full Gospel. And my husband is the executive pastor and we have our bishop, our senior founder of Universal Full Gospel is Bishop Scotland Bailey. But the family is very involved in ministry and the church and the community. We have things set up at the church on Mondays for the community, we serve complimentary bread, coffee, bagels and then we have people also that will help with people’s resumes help them set up [their] resumes, help them job search. So the church is there for the community also.

Where is it located? 

177 Martin Luther King Drive.

Fermin: The other religious connection is the property is owned by the Catholic Church across the street. This was lot abandoned for a while.

I’m getting a lot of good energy here. 

Lashona: You know why? Because for years with the basketball court it attracted a lot of youth and the [attraction] gave them something to do aside from being in the street. But the rims were torn down so it was closed off for a long time so they’re trying to get it back up.

Fermin: So after school, they open up the gates.

Lashona: And they still come in and play, they do. And I was afraid that they was gonna graffiti the wall, so every time they come by—I pray, “Don’t let them graffiti the wall,” but they have not touched it.

Fermin: I left a little room for that.

I feel like when you see something like this, it’s almost sacrilegious. 

Fermin: I can show you the original painting because it didn’t have the people in the windows and I thought it was important to include the people of the community. As people stopped by I’d take their photograph and include them in the windows.

Can you tell me a little more about this mural? 

It’s the exit from the Holland Tunnel coming into Jersey City.

Can you explain Lashona’s involvement? 

The original painting was a small portrait of a young Italian American lady, when I told you the story of how I was accepted through my friend. I was down here, this wall was chosen for me and I said, “I really can’t put someone that’s not from the community.” And Lashona’s son Ray drove by and he was like, “What are you doing?” and I said, “I’m looking for somebody to put up on this wall.” And he said, “Well what about my mom?” and I said, “Well let’s go.” I contacted Lashona and I went up to her beauty salon and I really wanted to integrate the community and have that feeling. What I was saying earlier about my work is that, I can produce art for art’s sake, but I think it’s more important that it means something, that the community is reflected in the art, especially public art.

Lashona: Somebody had asked me or made a comment to me of what they thought it meant. And you know, seeing the sun’s rays and then looking up lets you know that no matter what going on or no matter you’re going through you can always look up to things instead of looking down. With the people of the community now it’s like everyone’s looking up. You don’t have to be down, just look up to god.

Fermin: Basically hope. The rays represent that hope.

And also the look on your face has so much love towards life.

Lashona: I said, “That really looks like me.”

He really captured your personality. This is incredible you’re on a full-scale Jersey City mural.

Fermin: And she’s right here next to us.

And you haven’t seen him in a year? 

Lashona: Nope.

Fermin: Yeah, about a year.

Lashona: I was just coming by to see my father-in-law.

It’s crazy that we’re here, I’m interviewing him and you’re here. How long ago did you paint this? 

Fermin: This was in November of last year.

Lashona: And that’s my birthday month. November 5^th is my birthday.

That’s a great birthday present. Thank you so much Lashona!

Fermin, do you think you’re going to do more murals around Jersey City?

Oh, absolutely. I’m open for that.

How would you define your art style? 

You know, whether it’s a portrait of a landscape, the landscape tells you a little about the area, tells you about the people and that’s what I’m hoping to do. I couldn’t pigeonhole myself into one genre, but it’s [a] part of my life experience living in Northern New Jersey.

How long have you been around the Jersey City area? 

My whole life, I grew up here in Hudson County.

How do you feel Jersey City has changed in the past couple of years? 

Oh, it’s fantastic. The growth is fantastic, the people are fantastic, the level of the talent is unbelievable. Every time you turn around, there’s more and more talent here, in every area, music, art, the whole nine yards.

You look like a painter. Like if I were to look up the word painter in the dictionary, I would probably see your face. Like as soon as I drove up here I’m like, “Out of all the artists I’ve ever interviewed, you look like an artist.” 

Thank you, I appreciate that. I really do.

Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot? 

I think LITM, it’s got a good vibe. I mean: Love Is The Message. But I’m comfortable anywhere in Hudson County. Part of my art is about the fact that I can express myself and I feel the heartbeat of this area.

Anything you’d want people to know about you or your work? 

It’s not just about me, it’s about my experiences, there’s a lot of positive energy here right now and I want to tap into that.

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Mural Unveiling

Saturday 7/11/15 @ 11 AM @ Metro Honda

540 Route 440 North Jersey City, NJ 07305