Jacksonville artist unveils new mural for corporation’s 100 year anniversary in the River City

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Murals have long been an iconic piece of Jacksonville’s rich artistic history, all the way from Riverside to Arlington to Springfield.

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Now, a new eye-catching mural in Jacksonville’s Springfield area commemorates 100 years of the Swisher company in the “River City.”

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“We wanted to have some sort of representation of not only our history here but our relationship with the city,” explained Swisher CEO Neil Kiely at the mural’s unveiling on Thursday. “But most importantly, we wanted to highlight the folks that made it successful, hard workers and the community in general.”

Action News Jax told the community last year about the city ranking fourth in the nation in net corporate headquarters, this painting by Martin Torres celebrates one that has been here for the long haul, by an artist that has made his mark artistically already in the river city, previously helping craft the Arlington mural near Jacksonville’s Arlington Expressway.

READ: Swisher joined Groundwork Jacksonville to clean up the S-Line Rail Trail in Springfield

“I kind of came up with a few concepts and as an artist, I tend to be very colorful, I love to use color,” explained Torres. “So I think that’s also why they chose me to be the artist.”

Torres also outlined how he used the juxtaposition between black and white and the vibrant colors on the right side of the mural to show how Swisher and the city of Jacksonville has moved from its black and white past to a now colorful future.

“Everything being black and white back 100 years ago like photography, things like that, and then bringing it to color into the present and the future as being a splatter of paint, like more art to come,” Torres said.

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