Jonathan Ramirez’s New Mural: A Living Reflection of Doral’s Spirit
The Artist’s Work Will Be Exhibited in Doral Central Park
By: Diana Bello Aristizábal
“When I was a kid, I always told myself I would see my paintings everywhere,” said Jonathan Ramirez to this outlet. He was the artist selected by City of Doral to design and paint the circular mural that will grace the Doral Central Park water tank.
His prophecy was fulfilled as his work is showcased on several streets in Florida; from the mural that embellishes Ruben Dario School, the portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci at the Arthur & Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in Miami, a live painting for the City of Homestead and the mural at Google’s headquarters in Brickell, to one of Elvis Presley in Downtown Inverness and another sports-themed mural that can be seen in Riverside Park in Tarpon Springs, among many others.
Now, it’s a privilege for Doral residents to enjoy his art. Jonathan has not only forged a career through sensitivity, discipline, and talent, but behind each of his works lies an enriching proposal that—more than beautifying the area in which it’s located—unites and educates the community around art.
The Nicaraguan American defines himself as self-taught because everything he knows about art, he taught himself. “I started drawing in 2012 when I began my studies in graphic design, devoting many hours of the day to learning the techniques without a teacher. I’ve always had a knack for art, but I never thought I’d make a career out of it,” says Jonathan.
By 2014, he moved his efforts to Instagram. Seeing other artists posting photos of their drawings encouraged him to do the same on an experimental basis. “I got excited and went to buy colors, but at first, I wasn’t good at it. One day, a friend asked me to teach him how to use them, and I don’t know how, but a beautiful painting came out.”
In those early years, he combined his work as an artist with a sales position in a furniture store while selling his paintings, which sometimes took him a year to complete, for $10 each. It was a time of trial and error that he made the most of by gradually beginning to cut down the time he spent on each painting as he mastered his technique and gained more clients.
His creative process starts with music, like when he was tasked with making a portrait of a boxer and sought inspiration in the rock genre. “I try to feel what the person I’m drawing feels; in this case, this genre gave me the avenue to portray him as a fierce and strong figure while imagining myself in a ring,” he says of his art that he has been developing exclusively since 2022.
Vibrant and Familiar: This Is How He Sees Doral
When Jonathan took on the task of painting the Doral Central Park mural, he did what he always does when commissioned: live, breathe, and feel like his target audience— in this case, Doral residents. “I walked through the park and used its amenities several times for hours like any other visitor.”
From his first encounters with the park, he sensed a community spirit and joy in the environment, prompting him to take the colors of the sun and nature as a starting point for the mural.
But he didn’t limit his experiences to the park; he also used the city’s transit system and walked its streets. “I sat everywhere, since I truly wanted to get to know the soul of Doral, and I must say it’s a community committed to health, family-oriented, and filled with love,” he explains.
During the process of getting to know Doral at its core, he took photos of everything that seemed interesting to him, such as the plants and flowers in the park or the skateboard track and then drew those elements on his iPad. He then integrated the collected material into a sort of puzzle divided into a grid to get a macro view of what he wanted to show. “I would place a human in one section, or a bird in another and see if it worked out or not.”
This is how he arrived at the conceptualization of the mural, in which he also wanted to leave a bit of himself by including meaningful elements, ranging from a blue skateboard— representing the color of the Nicaraguan flag—, to a heart on a mother’s T-shirt, symbolizing the love for Latin culture. He chose a mother because there is nothing purer than their love.
“My works always have hidden messages, like the mural I did of Elvis featuring a clock marking 3:05— Miami’s area code. I like to leave messages connected to the community or my history,” says the artist who, on a side note, is a dog lover and often includes them in his paintings and murals.
The final result will be a sunset scene because, for Jonathan, when the sun begins to set, the mind is at its calmest state. “That feeling of relaxation was what the park gave me when I visited it, for the lake and the sound of the birds.”
It’s worth noting that residents will not only see the mural once it’s completed but will also interact with it. As part of the approved proposal, there will be a community activation component that will allow residents to paint the lower portion of the mural in a process known as Paint by Numbers, along with other activities aimed at educating and fostering a love for art, especially in children.
Although the mural’s design has already been approved by the city, it has not yet been publicly announced which of the three versions residents will see, nor has a launch date been confirmed.