December 2016

Miami Basel/Wynwood 2016 Wrap: Parade of Eye-Popping Beauty at a Portentous Time

Miami Basel/Wynwood 2016 Wrap: Parade of Eye-Popping Beauty at a Portentous Time

bsaxurban-nation-miami-art-basel-2016-740

An embarrassment of riches in so many ways, the Wynwood Street Art and mural scene is outrageously sexy, flashy, ugly, posey, pretty, proliferate and quizzically content-free. The annual outdoor urban art visual carnival that accompanies Art Basel in Miami is full of hi/low expectation and spectacle, and it confidently delivers on both.

brooklyn-street-art-1010-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

1010. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Long-limbed and shimmery sleek women are often working the sidewalks like runways, the men are carefully posing/not posing/posing with open shirts and genial braggadocio, and there are thousands, more likely millions of selfies taken in front of painted walls.

International art fans are mixing with skater kids and hip hop heads and egg-headed social scientists and teenage marching bands and they are all gawking and interacting with loquacious mamacitas and bearded lumbersexuals; this is not your average clambake.

Sometimes it is just weird; flourescence mixed with plaid, shot-callers and violins, strollers and stillettos, an undertone of aggression and sexual tension, salt-of-the-earth with self-admiring clubbers, perfect skin and aerosol painted hands, a whiff of weed and a sense of wonder waiting to be discovered.

brooklyn-street-art-audrey-kawasaki-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Audrey Kawasaki at The Hotel. Goldman Global Arts. South Beach. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

While there was a parade of 40 or so citizens and activists carrying signs and handing out flyers down the street to protest the oil pipelines taking sacred lands from native tribes and polluting natural water supplies, the thousands of art fans flooding the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami would have been hard pressed to find any Street Art talking about those topics.

Ironically the political shockwaves this year in Miami seemed to emanate from behind doors at the fair with Sam Durant’s “End White Supremacy” piece that many interpreted as a direct response to the election of a president whose followers include radical organizations that champion white supremacy. Alas, the piece was made in 2008, and although its hand-style emulates the hit and run scrawl of some graffiti on the street, it was a thoughtfully executed piece constructed as an illuminated sign.

brooklyn-street-art-david-choe-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web-3

David Choe. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With one very notable exception, the enormous and frightful mural featuring Donald Trump as Heath Ledger’s Joker wielding a knife at the neck of the Statue of Liberty with the screaming headline “Come On… What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?” by 12 artists for The Bushwick Collective/Mana Urban Arts Project, the professionalization of Street Artists and their murals may be steering the paintings in Wynwood away from in-your-face activism.

Granted, no one is thinking that commercially branded ventures that actually pay artists to paint will encourage the outright expression of social or political opinions – that may challenge or frighten potential customers and investors. Hotel lobbies need murals, sport cars need decorative painting, beer cans need labels. A number of liquor and lifestyle companies have invited artists here over the last few years and paid them to make their special events and products visually appealing, but little else.

brooklyn-street-art-david-choe-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web-1

David Choe portrait of Martha Cooper and her cat Mélia. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The newly refurbished Hard Rock stadium a few miles north of Miami features huge mural installations by international Street Artists that are curated by Goldman Global Arts, a division of Goldman Properties, the same real estate organization that has brought artists from around the world to the Wynwood Walls compound and featured their fine art canvasses in gallery expositions since the late 2000s. The pieces are opus works in an unusual setting and now sports fans are going to be up close and personal with some of the bigger names in Street Art right now.

It would be hypocritical for anyone to expect that these artists should accept commercial work and yet disrespect guidelines about the content. Similarly, expecting artists not to seek commercial opportunities for fear of “selling out” is arrogant and unrealistic and often the convenient provenance of privileged youth who dabble in “slumming” as a rebellious lifestyle. Later they are bankers.

brooklyn-street-art-david-choe-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web-2

David Choe. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Even so, where’s the anger right now? Why didn’t you see a lot of furious diatribes, challenges to power, and mockery of small-minded thinking on the street in Wynwood – and what would it take for Street Art to embrace its power to affect social and political change?

Just posing the question here now, again – as the topics of impending fascism, the increasing acts of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, corruption, oligarchy, state-corporatism, and a systematic eroding of respect for our institutions – all came up in conversations at bars, art openings, panel discussions, and roof parties.

brooklyn-street-art-okuda-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Okuda. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The murals you see here are often technically superb and their themes, while muted, may address some of the larger themes affecting society, but one wonders if there is an internalized censorship that we have accepted.

These images are admittedly of a modest percentage of the hundreds of legal murals and illegally dashed-off pieces we saw this week, but that’s only because we have edited for our individual aesthetics, not because of content. Also admittedly, as people in the arts, we are exhausted from the recent election and all it portends, and we were happy for some glorious eye candy to salve the psychic wounds – so maybe we were selectively seeing what we wanted to.

Probably not too much though.

For an art practice with some serious and proud roots in activism, the walls in Miami are curiously quiet. But they definitely look amazing.

brooklyn-street-art-pixel-pancho-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Pixel Pancho. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-findac-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Findac. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-faith47-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Faith 47. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-felipe-pantone-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Felipe Pantone. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-martin-whatson-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Martin Whatson. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-mr-june-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Mr. June. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ino-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

INO. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ino-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

INO. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © INO)

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Shepard Fairey. Mana Urban Arts Projects. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-vhils-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Vhils. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pichi-avo-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web-2

Pichi & Avo. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pichi-avo-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web-4

Pichi & Avo. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tristan-eaton-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Tristan Eaton. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-the-london-police-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

The London Police. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-hueman-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Hueman. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-jen-stark-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Jen Stark. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-fintan-magee-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web-2

Fintan Magee. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-fintan-magee-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web-3

Fintan Magee. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-fintan-magee-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web-4

Fintan Magee. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-avaf-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

AVAF. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-case-maclaim-jaime-rojo-hard-rock-stadium-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Case Maclaim. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-bordaloii-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Bordalo II. Uninhibited Festival 2016. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-peeta-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Peeta. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-knarf-jaime-rojo-wynwood-miami-art-basel-2016-web

Knarf. Work in progress. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)


 Our week’s coverage on BSA:

Wynwood Awakes: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 1

Police Arrest in Miami: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 2

You’ll Need Good Shoes: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 3

Clubhouse Chemistry in a Warehouse : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 4

Paint, Protest, Party : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 5

Urban Contemporary Inside the Fair : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 6


This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).


This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

brooklyn-street-art-miami-wrap-up-740-huffpost-bsa-screen-shot-2016-12-07-740

Read more
Finland’s Formidable Multi-City “UPEA” Mural Festival

Finland’s Formidable Multi-City “UPEA” Mural Festival

Finland joined the mural festival fray with some astounding and complex murals for UPEA this autumn. Created simultaneously in different cities, the festival soars with a large scale and with big international talents.

brooklyn-street-art-guido-van-helten-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Guido Van Helten from Australia painting in Helsinki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

Wisely, they included Finnish artists who are prominent on the local Street Art scene as well and carefully curated the murals to have longevity.

For being their first edition, UPEA16 already claims that it is the biggest street art event in Finland. Of course, they mean “mural event” as true Street Art does not seek permission and is not commissioned, rather it is done illegally. But we know what they meant.

brooklyn-street-art-guido-van-helten-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Guido Van Helten from Australia. Helsinki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

UPEA16 artists and cities featured are Italian Tellas (in Helsinki), Swedish duo Graffitisthlm (in Helsinki), Australian artist Guido van Helten (in Helsinki), Bulgarian duo Arsek & Erase (in Turku), Swedish artist Ola Kalnins (in Riihimäki), Indonesian artist WD (in Kemi), U.S. artist Andrew Hem (in Vaasa) and Finnish artists Kim Somervuori and Teemu Mäenpää (in Hyvinkää and Hämeenlinna).

Learn more about UPEA by clicking here.

brooklyn-street-art-wild-drawing-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Wild Drawing from Indonesia painting in Kemi. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-wild-drawing-upea-findland-10-16-web-3

Wild Drawing from Indonesia painting in Kemi. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-wild-drawing-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Wild Drawing from Indonesia in Kemi. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-tellas-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Tellas from Italy painting in Helsinki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-tellas-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Tellas from Italy in Helsinki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-arsek-erase-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Arsek & Erase from Bulgaria painting in Turku. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-arsek-erase-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Arsek & Erase from Bulgaria painting in Turku. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-teemu-maenpaa-and-kim-somervuori-upea-findland-10-16-web-3

Teemu Maenpaa & Kim Somervuori from Finland painting in Hyvinkää and Hämeenlinna. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-teemu-maenpaa-and-kim-somervuori-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Teemu Maenpaa & Kim Somervuori from Finland in Hyvinkää and Hämeenlinna. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-teemu-maenpaa-and-kim-somervuori-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Teemu Maenpaa & Kim Somervuori from Finland in Hyvinkää and Hämeenlinna. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-graffitisthlm-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Graffitisthlm a duo from Sweden painting in Helsinki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-graffitisthlm-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Graffitisthlm a duo from Sweden in Helsinki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-andrew-hem-upea-findland-10-16-web-2

Andrew Hem from USA painting in Vaasa. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-andrew-hem-upea-findland-10-16-web-1

Andrew Hem from USA painting in Vaasa. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-andrew-hem-upea-findland-10-16-web-3

Andrew Hem from USA in Vaasa. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

brooklyn-street-art-ola-kalnins-upea-findland-10-16-web

Ola Kalnins from Sweden painting in Riihimäki. UPEA Festival 2016. Finland. (photo © courtesy of UPEA)

 

 

Read more
Skount Peels Off “Time Layers” in Spain

Skount Peels Off “Time Layers” in Spain

“Dude how was the weekend?”

“Rad, dude! I partied my face off!”

brooklyn-street-art-skount-almagro-spain-11-2016-web-1

Skount. Almagro, Spain. November 2016. (photo © Skount)

Skount is probably depicting something slightly more esoteric than that Bro-based expression for drinking large quantities of beer and having awkward conversations with women at a party.

We’ve all been there, don’t judge.

brooklyn-street-art-skount-almagro-spain-11-2016-web-2

Skount. Almagro, Spain. November 2016. (photo © Skount)

It is notable how a few illustration-based artists on the street have been slicing or dissecting the human form and looking at the insides of us in a diagrammatic or metaphorical way, with the Austrian Nychos coming to mind as the primary experimenter. The Belgian ROA often dissects the animal world to let us see inside as well. In the case of many works by the Amsterdam-based Skount, the figure is more often used to illustrate spiritual matters and metaphysical realms.

“This mural is a surreal representation of the layers generated by the passage of time in our inner selves and that are part of out identity,” he explains of this mural when recently visiting his original hometown Almagro, Spain.

brooklyn-street-art-skount-almagro-spain-11-2016-web-4

Skount. Almagro, Spain. November 2016. (photo © Skount)

With “Time Layers”, the artist says he is referring to the accumulated information and experiences that we gather along the life path.

“Over the years, we live through different situations, both good and bad,” he says. “We meet different people, we visit different places and we draw on different emotions and feelings generated by everything around us. All of this is saved in our memory and subconscious, stored in layers that shape and draw our inner universe, forming our identity and making us who we are.”

brooklyn-street-art-skount-almagro-spain-11-2016-web-3

Skount. Almagro, Spain. November 2016. (photo © Skount)

Read more
BSA Images Of The Week: 12.04.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 12.04.16

brooklyn-street-art-bordaloii-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Of course it was not all about spectacle this week in Miami, but about tribes and community as well. Many conversations with artists on the street and at openings revolved around this chaotic/fearful time we are living in – and it seemed like if you weren’t discussing the incoming president and offering predictions about what fresh hell this time will bring, you were trying hard to avoid the topic altogether.

There were talks this week about activism or the lack of it on the street, relevance of the work of artists in the body politik, paint supplies, ladders, Tindr, licensing, how Pete Rock and CL Smooth blew everybody away late Friday night with the Bushwick Collective, how murals are not to be confused with Street Art and Street Art is not to be confused with graffiti and of course the evergreen “Is Street Art Dead?” – which has popped up as a topic about every 3 months since it was coined. Answer: no sight of it yet, but we’ll let you know if it stops mutating and shapshifting and re-defining itself. Promise

Without repeating some of the images from our previous postings this week, here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 2Alas, Bordalo II, Caratoes, Cleon Peterson, CRASH, Dan Witz, D*Face, Don Rimx, Evoca, Fluke, Hoxxoh, Jules Muck, L’Atlas, Okuda, Pez, Shepard Fairey, Shida, Shok1, and Sipros.

Bordalo II for Uninhibited Mural Festival 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sipros-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-2

Sipros for Mana Urban Arts Projects x The Bushwick Collective. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sipros-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-1

Sipros for Mana Urban Arts Projects x The Bushwick Collective. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-okuda-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-1

Okuda. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-okuda-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-2

Okuda. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-fluke-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-16-web

Fluke. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dan-witz-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Dan Witz. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-crash-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Crash. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cleon-petterson-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-3

Cleon Petterson for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cleon-petterson-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-2

Cleon Peterson for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cleon-petterson-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-1

Cleon Peterson for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-evoca1-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Evoca1 for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-don-rimix-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Don Rimx for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shok-1-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Shok1 for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shida-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Shida for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pez-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

PEZ for Uninhibited Mural Festival 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Shephard Fairey for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-l-atlas-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

L’Atlas. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-jules-muck-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Jules Muck. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-d-face-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

D*Face for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-hox-xoh-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Hox Xoh for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-artist-unknown-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web-2

Unidentified Artist. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-artis-unknwon-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Unidentified Artist. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-2alas-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

2alas for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-caratoes-wynwood-miami-04-12-16-web

Caratoes for a previous edition of Art Basel Miami. Wynwood, Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Read more
Urban Contemporary Inside the Fair : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 6

Urban Contemporary Inside the Fair : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 6

bsaxurban-nation-miami-art-basel-2016-740

Art Basel in Miami is part of an annual three city fair that includes Hong Kong and it’s name sake Basel in Switzerland. This years fair in Miami hosts 269 galleries and your brain will be fried after the first 150, in an excellent way.

brooklyn-street-art-okuda-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Okuda at Retrospect Galleries. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An art fair is not really a rarefied environment but many patrons walk with that air, presumably because they find it to be a flattering look, but most people are just excited to discover new ideas and techniques for channeling the creative spirit in a multitude of ways.

Far from the action of the actual graffiti and Street Art scene in long rows of white wall cubicles that average the price of a new car to rent for four days, SCOPE nonetheless has a healthy number of Street Artists represented with studio pieces that rock as hard as any killer piece under a bridge.

brooklyn-street-art-felipe-pantone-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Felipe Pantone at Mirus Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inside this environment we’re probably calling the category Urban Contemporary and it’s always interesting to see how the street practice translates to a frame on a wall – and who can do it successfully. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it’s always surprising to see how many other derivative, hackneyed, or underwhelming works are proudly on display – by artists whose main connection to actual street culture is tenuous at best.

But imitators and replicators have existed in every genre of the plastic arts for as long as anyone reading this has been alive, so it shouldn’t be a shock when you have seen 5 Banksy-esque canvasses even before you stop at the commissary for your $14 pressed vegetable panini.

imgbrooklyn-street-art-hueman-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Hueman at Mirus Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For the actual fans and collectors of actual graffiti and Street Artists, it may be irksome to see the common tropes of colorful paint drips and ironic pop images mutated and slapped with cleverness – especially in view of the fact that there is a fleet of new kids outside in our cities and streets today whose work is regularly amazing.

Since many of the current generation of Street Artists have had a little or a lot of formal training as artists, the quality of work in the good spots is very high and we were happy to find many excellent pieces throughout the fair by folks whose name you may recognize. Here is a sampling of pieces we found during an audit of this year’s SCOPE just so you have an idea of the offerings.

brooklyn-street-art-cinta-vidal-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Cinta Vidal at Thinkspace Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cyrcle-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Cyrcle at Station 16 Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-clet-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Clet Abraham at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dot-masters-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Dotmasters at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-stik-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Sitk at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-kryptik-2501-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

2501 and Cryptik at Innerstate Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pixel-pancho-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Pixel Pancho at Innerstate Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Swoon at Chandran Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-logan-hicks-joe-iurato-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Logan Hicks and Joe Iurato at Station 16 Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-c215-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

C215 at Next Street Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-kurar-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Kurar at Next Street Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-denis-macnett-jaime-rojo-scope-miami-2016-web

Denis McNett at Paradigm Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)


This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

 

Read more
Paint, Protest, Party : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 5

Paint, Protest, Party : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 5

bsaxurban-nation-miami-art-basel-2016-740

Scope! The verb, not the art fair.

We will be hitting SCOPE shortly but in the interim we’ve been scoping for action or trouble; trolling around the streets of Wynwood and other selected odd locations to find Street Artists actively brush-painting, aerosol painting, markering, stenciling, wheat-pasting, even tying some wires and ribbons around fences. The walls and murals and the scene are all transforming in front of your eyes here, with photographers, videographers, and drones all flying around to capture the action as it progresses.

brooklyn-street-art-the-london-police-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-walls-2016-web

Bob from The London Police working at their mural for the new Goldaman offices in Wynwood, Miami. Wynwood Walls 2016 /Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This neighborhood is an art fair, without the attitude. Well, maybe there is attitude occasionally on display as well.

Also, political speech was pushing through the carousing beer swilling, late-sipping, burrito chomping streets yesterday with a 50 person troop of protesters with home made signs addressing the massive oil pipeline that is routed through sacred land of Native Americans in North Dakota and a pipeline planned to go through Florida.

brooklyn-street-art-un-miami-wynwood-pipeline-protest-dec-1-2016-740

Oil pipelines protest in Wynwood. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

We followed them for a few blocks, listening to chants about water and hegemony and found that for many art/party fans it was a curiosity to see citizens demonstrating, and a few bystanders took the fluorescent green flyers offered and said thanks, while others took photos and naturally, selfies with the marchers.

Just one more element to add to your sense of cognitive dissonance.

brooklyn-street-art-pichi-avo-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-walls-2016-web-1

Pichi & Avo. Work in progress. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Night time in the Wynwood District is a chaotic grimy glittery mix of high and low and middle in the neighborhood as well – where you are as likely to catch a whiff of a models’ perfume as she sashays past you in a backless silver mini dress with her 3 leggy friends flipping their long hair over their shoulders as you are to catch a whiff of sweet ganga smoke from the joint of an open-shirted, low-waisted Romeo in dreadlocks or one the acrid whiff of the rumpled grayish clothing worn by the guy who is sitting on a chair against a mural and is ready to spend another night laying on the sidewalk after you stumble back to your hotel.

brooklyn-street-art-pichi-avo-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-walls-2016-web-2

Pichi & Avo. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An ongoing slothful and bloated and thumping network of car-minivan-limo-Escalade-motorcycle traffic is rolling into a mechanical Ambian lethargy, at times looking more like a parking lot or tailgating party, grid-locking and popping and actively cruising the options parading down the sidewalks, with windows open and music pumping.

With no police at intersections to ease the flow of this jamtastic scene, low-bubbling rage mixes with cologne and produces slick insults hurled at the guy whose car is blocking the traffic flow, or more importantly, your flow. The song of the night wafting through the air on one corner, perhaps because a bicycle would be a perfect solution here, is called Bicycleta.

Luckily for us, we are usually on foot and not afraid to walk to find the good stuff. That is the best way to experience the street and the various events and to catch artists at work. Enjoy a few scenes from the day and one from the evening in Wynwood in Miami.

brooklyn-street-art-ron-english-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-walls-2016-web

Ron English touching up his mural from a previous edition of Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ken-hiratsuka-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-walls-2016-web

Ken Hiratsuka. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-case-maclaim-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-walls-2016-web

Case Maclaim. Detail. Work in progress. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web-1

Shepard Fairey. Work in progress for Mana Urban Arts Project. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web-2

Shepard Fairey. Work in progress for Mana Urban Arts Project. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-insa-drew-merritt-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web-1

Insa and Drew Merritt. Work in progress. This will be an augmented reality wall which the public will be able to appreciate on Saturday with an app. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-insa-drew-merritt-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web-2

Insa and Drew Merrit. Work in progress. This will be an augmented reality wall which the public will be able to appreciate on Saturday with an app. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-low-bros-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web

Low Bros. Perfecting ones curtsy to the Queen comes in handy while painting on a wall. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-obey-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web

Obey, people! Or not, its up to you. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-wynwood-walls-2016-jaime-rojo-web

Artist Talk at the new Goldman art gallery with Martha Cooper, Crash, Tristan Eaton, Faith47 and Pixel Pancho. Moderated by Steven P. Harrington of BSA. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pichi & Avo at the Hard Rock Stadium for Goldman Global Arts


This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

 

Read more
Clubhouse Chemistry in a Warehouse : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 4

Clubhouse Chemistry in a Warehouse : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 4

bsaxurban-nation-miami-art-basel-2016-740

One of the fantastic parts of Miami’s Art Basel / Wynwood craziness, aside from the colorful drinks and hair sculptures and accidental tripping over almost every Street Artist you have heard of (and many whom you haven’t) is the sheer amount of madhouse chemistry that explodes in your face because of new partnerships and events – like the Juxtapoz Clubhouse in Wynwood opening today.

brooklyn-street-art-olek-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Olek. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The premier contemporaty and underground magazine and cultural stew from the west coast teams up with New Jersey’s Mana Urban Arts and others this year to take over one of those previously run-down and neglected parts of the neighborhood to create an “immersive retreat”.

brooklyn-street-art-denis-mcnett-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web-1

Denis McNett. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We got a behind-the-scenes peek at the installations and artworks in advance of today’s opening and were pleased to see that the quality is slammin’ –with sufficiently large installations to create an environment and to stand on their own as fully realized concepts.

So many of these artists can work larger, and many have: Dennis McNett stages fully performances and parades of characters pounding like warriors through streets, for example. Dude, the energy is good.

brooklyn-street-art-denis-mcnett-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web-2

Denis McNett. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The mix of producers/collaborators at the Clubhouse is contemporary, theatrical, and somehow darkly comic –Jonathan Levine Gallery, Chandran Gallery, MILK Studios, ThinkSpace, and the 1xRun crew – a smartly flipped trip of heavy hitters that relies on the strangely symbiotic and the serendipitous to succeed.

Check out some of the work here and if you are in Miami go to 2400 NW 5th Avenue from December 1-4.

brooklyn-street-art-lauren-vallieres-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Laurence Vallieres. Detail. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ever-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-2

Ever at work on his installation. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ever-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web-1

Ever. Detail. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-fintan-magee-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Fintan Magee. Detail. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cern-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Cern at work on his painting. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cinta-vidal-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Cinta Vidal. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-zio-ziegler-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Zio Ziegler. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-scott-campbell-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Scott Campbell. This is is an interactive piece which will involve the public. Mr. Campbell is a tattoo artist and through a raffle willing participants will have the opportunity to have their arm tattooed but they will not know what the tattoo will be until completed. The participants will stick his or her arm, trough the hole in the middle of the installation and Mr. Campbell will be unseen, working on the tattoo on the other side of the wall. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-low-bros-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Low Bros. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web-1

Swoon. Detail of her installation. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web-2

Swoon. Detail of her installation. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dylan-egon-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

brooklyn-street-art-adam-wallacavage-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Adam Wallacavage. Jonathan LeVine Gallery x Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dan-witz-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-juxtapoz-2016-web

Dan Witz. Jonathan LeVine Gallery x Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-jaime-rojo-miami-mana-urban-arts-projects-2016-web

Shepard Fairey. Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-jaime-rojo-miami-basel-2016-web-1

Louis Masai. The Art of Beeing. Mana Urban Arts Projects x The Bushwick Collective/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-jaime-rojo-miami-basel-2016-web-2

Louis Masai. The Art of Beeing. Mana Urban Arts Projects x The Bushwick Collective/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-case-maclaim-jaime-rojo-wynwood-walls-2016-web

Case Maclaim sketching his wall for Wynwood Walls/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-artist-unknown-jaime-rojo-miami-wynwood-2016-web

Please Do! Artist Unknown. Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more