At almost every corner you turn you see a new mural popping up in Jersey City. Between Green Villain, Savage Habbit and the Jersey City Mural program, Jersey City is on its way of becoming a mecca of street art. Most recently Mayor Steven Fulop announced the growth of the Jersey City Mural Arts program, which has seen 40 vibrant public art murals installed across every ward of the city and is drawing national and international attention.  Another 25 to 30 murals will be completed this summer and fall as neighborhood groups and local institutions join the initiative.

“With every neighborhood I visit, I meet residents who are excited about the murals in their community and they want more,” said Mayor Fulop.  “Local and international artists are creating masterpieces throughout our city, bringing walls to life and creating a model that other cities around the state and the country are looking to emulate.

Artists who have participated in the Jersey City Mural Arts Program include Zed1 and Pixel Pancho from Italy, Fintan McGee from Australia, and Faith47 from South Africa, who completed her second and largest mural for the city this spring, others were executed by DaveL from Miami and New York’s Queen Andrea.  Many murals have been created by local artists such as Fermin Mendoza, Pawn, Emilio Florentine (post coming soon), Catherine Hart, Syringe, Paws21 and many more.

Dasic from Chile is the most recent artist who just completed a large-scale mural on Christopher Columbus Street. While interviewing Emilio Florentine the other day(post coming soon) he introduced me to Dasic so I could ask him a few questions about his work. Basic was also talking to a group of kids who are part of the Summer Works Program (also post coming soon) which hires and teaches creative kids on how to create public art. Dasic is a super cool guy, I ran into Missy B, a local JC mover and shaker and she was telling me that Dasic would cross the street to look at his mural and bump his head to the beat of the music in his earphones. He has great energy and the wall really speaks for itself.

What’s your name? Dasic Fernandez.

Where are you from? Originally from Chile. I live everywhere now. I spend a lot of time moving around the world.

Tell me about this mural? In this particular mural, I am playing a little with the location here because it’s a complicated wall. It has a lot of obstacles in between….windows. The biggest obstacle, which I see as an opportunity is the tree that is right in front of the wall. I am creating one of my characters, a melting character, on the top of the building. At the bottom I am playing with the tree. Usually my characters faces are covered with a bandana, but here I am using landscape to cover the characters face. I will also paint some of the side-walk to tie everything together….

Is this your first one in Jersey City? Yes, I have one in Newark.

What do you think about Jersey City? It’s nice, things are happening here. I love this mural program that the city put together.

How long did it take you to do this? Two days.

How long have you been painting in the street? 15 years!

Instagram @dasicfernandez