Image via Complex Original
Miami's Wynwood Arts District has established a name for itself in the last decade or so. Now known as the center of South Florida's contemporary art scene, the thriving neighborhood will play home to the third year of Art Wynwood, a contemporary art fair which gathers street artists from 70 galleries across the globe.
With its VIP preview kicking off tomorrow night, the five-day event will showcase an array of murals and pop surrealist pieces by internationally renowned street artists. This year, Art Wynwood has teamed up with Vienna street art festival Cash, Cans & Candy to present works by Stinkfish, Alexis Diaz, and more. Additionally, the Miami art fair will also show commissioned murals by Maya Hayuk and Miss Van along with live paintings by CR and Speedy Graphito. For those traveling to the premier street art festival, here are 9 artists (and some works of art) to be on the lookout for.
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C&R
C&R, an art duo composed of French artists Christian Volckman and Raphael Thierry, will present a live painting entitled Reach for the Moon at the art fair's VIP preview. In their performance, Volckman and Raphael take turns adding to the piece, using a traditional method called "exquisite cadaver," first used by Surrealist artists like Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray.
For the past two weeks or so, street art enthusiasts tracked the progress of Brooklyn-based muralist Maya Hayuk's recently completed mural on the Bowery Wall in New York. Now the attendees of this year's Art Wynwood will have a chance to check out another Technicolor Hayuk mural, located in the VIP lounge. Like her New York mural, her piece for Art Wynwood consists of bright, fluorescent colors and trippy symmetrical lines.
Art Wynwood will also feature artists who participated in Cash, Cans & Candy, a street art exhibition first launched in Vienna last June. The curator of the show, Katrin-Sophie Dworczak, has selected a handful of talented, international street artists to produce original works for the Miami art fair. Some prominent artists include Alexis Diaz, The Stencil Network, Stephen Tompkins, Douglas Hoekzema, and Stinkfish, who created the mural above.
The Colombian-based street artist is known depicting the faces of mostly women and children, surrounded in bursts of bright colors. Basing his murals off pictures of strangers, Stinkfish recreates his photos as large-scale murals. Using stencils and spray paint, he expands on his murals to give them dreamlike, almost spiritual vibes.
The Stencil Network is no stranger to Art Wynwood, having displayed the mural above at last year's art fair. He returns to Miami again this year as one of the street artists curated by Cash, Cans & Candy. Though the Puerto Rico-based artist has yet to release photos of a finished piece, expect this year's mural to consist of intricate line work, bold colors, and perhaps arabesque-like portraits.
When Puerto Rican artist Alexis Diaz is not drawing his highly detailed renderings of human skulls, he's working on sketches of wild animals. Thanks to his knack for cross-hatching, Diaz's drawings end up looking like photos that have been blown up. According to his Instagram, Diaz has decided to draw a massive humpback whale for this year's Art Wynwood.
American artist and animator Stephen Tompkins creates art that incorporates aspects of both pop art and surrealism. His piece for Art Wynwood 2014, for example, consists of bold cartoon-reminiscent lines, which convey a sense of familiarity. On the other hand, Tompkins overlaps his lines so they don't quite amount to one distinct image. Viewers are forced to rely on the power of their imagination to make sense of Tompkins' mural.
Miss Van
In conjunction with Maya Hayuk and select artists from Cash, Cans & Candy, French artist Miss Van will also display one of her female-empowering murals. Miss Van, a moniker which plays off her real name Vanessa Castex, began painting on the walls of Toulouse buildings when she was 18 years old. Known for her murals of sassy-looking, squinty-eyed women, Miss Van chooses to portray women in a way that challenges typical art conventions, sometimes posing them in highly provocative positions.
Speedy Graphito
Expect to find French artist Speedy Graphito working on a live mural at the VIP preview.
Presented by Fabien Castanier Gallery, the artist is known for his Lichtenstein-reminiscent pieces, borrowing images from popular culture and famous characters like Mario and Mickey Mouse, featured in a past painting displayed above. Regarded as one of the founding fathers of the French Street Art movement, Speedy Graphito is kind of a huge deal.
Douglas Hoekzema
Last but not least, Miami-based artist Douglas Hoekzema (also known as Hoxxoh) has rendered trippy, floral designs on circular canvases using spray paint and a homemade pendulum. Hoekzema's pendulum consists of a paint-filled water bottle tied to the end of a rope. The makeshift machine allows Hoekzema to create different textures and more relaxed designs.
