Wynwood Walls Announces Fearless for Art Basel Miami 2016
As Art Basel Miami takes over the city, the sunny streets of Wynwood are once again alive with artists, musicians, bloggers, galleries, muralists and art lovers from across the world. At the centre of this energy is Wynwood Walls, the open-air mural destination founded in 2009 by the late Tony Goldman, which has helped transform the Wynwood Arts District into one of Miami’s most recognisable cultural landmarks.
Tatiana Suarez from Florida, Wynwood Walls Miami. Image credit Martha Cooper 2016
For 2016, Wynwood Walls presents Fearless, a new programme inviting artists to create twelve new walls under one shared theme. The title speaks to courage, resilience and the act of moving forward in a world often shaped by fear. It is a call to feel the fear and do it anyway, turning uncertainty into action and public space into a place of visual confidence.
Okuda from Spain, Wynwood Walls Miami. Image credit Martha Cooper 2016
Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties and chief curator of Wynwood Walls since 2012, described the theme as a way to push the narrative of the project forward. Each year, Wynwood Walls chooses a unifying idea and asks artists to respond through their own visual language. For 2016, that idea is courage.
“Every year we choose a unifying theme and ask our artists to somehow address this in their work with the goal of pushing the narrative. This year, with everything going on in the world I felt it appropriate to advocate a message of courage, in the hopes that we can all embody courage in our everyday lives. Street artists by vocation are some of the most fearless people I’ve met and here in Wynwood, we’ve grown from a marginal area that many feared to explore into one of the most desirable art-filled locations in the world. My father, Tony Goldman, always said, ‘Don’t give in to fear,’ and this year we’re honouring that sentiment.”
Alongside the new murals, Fearless will also feature carved boulders by Ken Hiratsuka, the pioneering Japanese street artist known for chiselling intricate patterns into New York sidewalks during the 1980s. A longtime collaborator of the Goldman family, Hiratsuka brings a different material language to Wynwood, introducing stone, texture and permanence into a district best known for painted walls.
“Wynwood is so alive with painted imagery. It makes me happy to show people a different form, to show images in stone,” says Hiratsuka.
The Fearless programme will showcase an international line-up of artists including AVAF from Brazil, Beau Stantonfrom California, Case Maclaim from Germany, Dasic Fernández from Chile, David Choe from California, Faith47 from South Africa, Felipe Pantone from Spain, Fin DAC from the UK, Okuda from Spain, Pixel Pancho from Italy, RISK from California and Tatiana Suarez from Florida. Artist Audrey Kawasaki will also be painting a mural at Goldman Properties’ The Hotel on South Beach.
Pixel Pancho from Italy, Wynwood Walls Miami. Image credit Martha Cooper 2016
Together, these artists reflect the global language of contemporary muralism, from abstraction and portraiture to symbolism, figuration, graphic colour and large-scale public storytelling. Under the banner of Fearless, Wynwood Walls becomes a visual conversation about courage, creative risk and the power of artists to transform the atmosphere of a city.
Felipe Pantone from Spain, Wynwood Walls Miami. Image credit Martha Cooper 2016
For a district built on walls, colour and public imagination, the theme feels perfectly placed. Wynwood has always carried a sense of boldness, turning once-overlooked streets into a destination for art in the open air. In 2016, Fearless continues that spirit, inviting visitors to walk through a city block shaped not by fear, but by artists willing to meet it head-on.
Wynwood Walls Miami. Image credit Martha Cooper 2016
As Wynwood continues to unfold during Art Basel Miami 2016, read more about Faith 47’s mural for this years Wynwood, and check back soon for more updates from the sunny streets of Miami’s mural district.
Image credit: The legendary Martha Cooper