All posts tagged: Miami Beach

Miami 2010: Tales of the Streets

Welcome to Miami!  Now go home.

– It’s a paraphrase of the Christmas crabby New Yorker who relies on the tourists who pump money into Broadway and Times Square restaurants and FAO and who actually eat those hot dogs and pretzels on the street.  In the case of Miami, Art Basel 2010 draws to a close now and one billion dollars are estimated to have been transacted. When you pair that figure with the estimated 2-3000 artists participating, it looks like the artists must have made out rather well, right?

Certainly there were more Street Artists than ever attending the events and transforming walls everywhere with their work and creativity – at least in the unofficially sanctioned areas. At the moment Miami is “The only city in the US where graffiti appreciates property value,” ironically says Mint and Serf, a Street Art collective visiting the tropical city from frigid New York.  In an odd twist on the “broken window theory” and urban blight, artists who are normally looking over their shoulder can actually wave to and talk with police who are driving by in some run-down areas where they are given free reign over large swaths of walls. At this sunny moment in time various agendas are intertwined and one wonders how long this golden age lasts.

Street Art photographer and observer Geoff Hargadon took in the breadth of the week on the street and attended a number of the events over the past weeks’ art orgies.  He captured many jewels and quick moments with his camera and his 6th sense, which are below. As various larger pieces are unfinished right now, we’ll be going back in a few weeks for a year-end overview.

In addition to an intuitive eye about the art trends happening that impact the scene, Geoff gives a commentary about what else he’s thinking about: “Here is the other thing that’s a trend: property owners have their hands over all these walls for artists to takeover, and then suddenly they are leased out to restaurants, coffee shops, and other businesses. It’s hard to know who’s playing whom here – maybe it’s a happy co-existence – but when does the property owner step up to support these guys in other ways? (Unless, of course, it’s already happening.) Either way, artists are playing a big role in the development of these neighborhoods, and whether they know it or not, as the area gets more developed and gentrified, they will eventually run themselves out of town. Whether they are getting paid or not, they are creating their own extinction in Miami.”

brooklyn-street-art-aiko-miami-2010-webAiko (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

brooklyn-street-art-amaze-miami-2010-webAmaze (photo and clever Photoshop © Geoff Hargadon)

brooklyn-street-art-coco-miami-2010-webCoco (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

brooklyn-street-art-gaia-hands-miami-2010-webGaia’s Hands (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

brooklyn-street-art-down-on-the-demon-miami-2010-webBurning Candy Crew Members Tek33 and Dscreet at work on Dawn Of The Demon.(photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Cash for your Warhol  (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

brooklyn-street-art-gaia-invider-miami-2010-webInvader (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

brooklyn-street-art-lister-miami-2010-webLister in progress (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Gaia (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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The London Police in progress (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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The London Police close up (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Shepard Fairey (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Invader (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Remed in progress (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Invader and friends (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Obey Overunder! (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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PopUp Lister (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Ron English color explosion (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Obey shop! (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Ryan McGuinness (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Skewville gets his wings and soars (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Mint and Serf (photo © Mint and Serf)

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Mint and Serf (photo © Mint and Serf)

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Light Graffiti photo © Vicki Da Silva

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The Real Miami Heat: HuffPost Art’s Guide To Art Basel Miami Beach (Photos)

Over the past few days BSA has been bringing you the hot spots to experience the happenings in Miami 2010. Our focus has been to showcase the  Street and Urban art satellite art fairs in the Wynwood and Design Districts in downtown Miami. Our friends over at The Huffington Post have their picks and we’d like to share them with you:

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“As you read this, there is a giant pulsating orb known as Miami Basel alluring a defenseless international audience of art lovers, collectors and artists to encircle its captivating glow. Amazingly, the main fair called “Art Basel | Miami Beach” started only nine years ago as the sister fair to “Art Basel | Switzerland” and has since mushroomed into an extravaganza with over 20 satellite fairs and numerous parties to go along with it”

Click here to continue reading and to see the slide show at The Huffington Post

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Winter Chill? Burn Your Art!

A few weeks ago Street Artist Celso and some of his friends decided to have an art show in Miami Beach during the much ballyhooed Art Basel show.

As a response to the aforementioned ballyhoo, and perhaps as a commentary about the romance with and commercialization of street art, the culmination of the “Art Burn” show was to light all of it on fire and grin mischievously. As an additional dystopian thrill for the assembled pyro-artiacts, a copy of Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury was torched also, after memorizing of course.

Thanks to Hargo for the excellent atmospheric pics – and to learn more about the project check out fabulous Carolina Miranda at C-Monster.net

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With a fire extinguisher at the ready, and a gallon of water, and a beer (photo © Hargo)

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For fire-tagger Ellis G., this particular event was not too much of a stretch. (photo © Hargo)

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Debbie Harry has not been this hot since the 80’s (Billi Kid) (photo © Hargo)

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Kids plus fire equals good times. Where’s that bag of marshmallows? (photo © Hargo)

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Art radicals, pavement and fences …. now just add 5 tires to the fire and you’ve got yourself a G8 Summit!  (photo © Hargo)

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Skewville’s demand has gone up since some of their supply was burned (©Hargo)

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