Wynwood is a neighborhood in Miami, just north of downtown, which had a lot of warehouses
and small factories. It had fallen into bad times and become a derelict area. When Art Basel
appeared and drew large numbers of people to Miami, a community planner suggested ways
of bringing the area back and attractive. Primarily this was by getting property owners to
agree to allow graffiti artists to paint huge areas of empty wall space. They then went all over
the world and invited the most famous graffiti artists to come to Miami and create
outdoor murals. The program has been enormously successful. This year there were 26
artists from all over the world, and they covered 80,000 square feet of wall space.
Independent local artists covered another 80,000 with smaller graffiti murals.
This is the side wall of a small apartment building, painted by a local a.
A beautiful butterfly decorates the wall across from St. John's Commnity Clinic.
A wall of the clinic offers advice. Today, while I visited, they were giving free vaccination
shots, and a line of women and children wound all around the block.
Some murals have social or political messages.
But most murals are fanciful, realistic or abstract.
This is the wall of a restaurant along N.W. 2nd Avenue at 25th Street.
Cartoon characters from many countries appear.
Several courtyards were once surrounded by tire warehouses. The courtyards now serve as
places for families to come and have a meal or snack and enjoy the art.
A number of the murals show traditions from the Middle East and Far East,
where there are many famous graffiti artists. I talked with a couple, and many are highly
skilled in technical abilities.
A playful images facing the courtyard.
I don't know whether this is a script which can be read, but it certainly is a
beautiful geometric image for the wall.
Some of the buildings are now restaurants and snack bars; this is the wall of one.
Super-realism is a highly regarded style. This fantastic elephant-octopus was huge
and amazing.
This was the wall of an art gallery, and the artist was obviously very skilled technically.
A fancifully painted wall in pseudo-Arabic script.
Tour guide by brilliantly painted wall.
Across the street were portraits of famous graffiti artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.
A fantasy reclining figure was probably 50 feet long.
One artist combined painting with plastic flowers.
And of course they painted the question all visitors ask: "Is it art, or is it vandalism?
Around the corner is the entrance to the art gallery, of which this is the 2nd Avenue wall.
Science fiction subjects are popular.
Some of the graffiti artists proudly sign their names; others prefer to remain anonymous.
This mural was on the wall of an art gallery which sold prints of the above can.
Commercialism and art are nearly synonymous.
This Art Nouveau style wall-poster was by "Inkie," who seemed to be
quite famous and had a number of signed murals in the area.
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On weekends, it is now popular for Miamians and tourists to come to Wynwood
and walk around and enjoy the murals and have lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes.
The double-decker tourist buses drive along the street and drop people off until
a later bus picks them up. There were many tourists from France in the courtyard today.
Tour guides led groups of people through the courtyards. It was fun.
If you are interested in the names of artists and more examples, there is a great
deal of information on the internet under "Walls of Wynwood."
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