AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE WYNWOOD WALLS
We have talked to you a bit about the history of the Wynwood Walls, but today I would like to dig a little deeper.
Fresh and upcoming graffiti artists have curated this amazing and free open art space over the past few years.
The walls have changed but the intensity lives. As a huge supporter of the arts today I am going to tell you the inside scoop of some of the current artists.
Maya Hayuk
This Brooklyn artist creates paintings and massively scaled murals with inspiration from outer space, traditional Ukrainian crafts, airbrushed manicures, and mandalas.
Hayuk weaves visual information from her immediate surroundings into her elaborate abstractions, creating an engaging mix of referents from popular culture and advanced painting practices alike while connecting to the ongoing pursuit of psychedelic experience in visual form.
Ryan McGinness
McGinness was raised on the surf and skate culture of Virginia Beach and now a fixture in Manhattan’s art world, his work uses the language of signage and corporate logos to communicate more personal messages.
His mural for Wynwood Walls, entitled 33 Women, uses a palette of red, orange, green and yellow Day-Glo paint on a black background. In these works, he offers his own distinct version of the female nude, a constant throughout art history. A true brilliant addition to the Walls.
Shepard Fairey
“Obey” campaign and for his Obama “Hope” poster. His mural for the Wynwood Walls, visible from 2nd Avenue, is a stunning example of his wheat-pasted work.
Knowing that the walls would be protected provided an incentive for him to design and create a pasted mural that is more polished than what he would be able to do without permission. His finished work includes references to human rights with the figure on the far left of Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi; the imagery also deals with climate change and the question of war.
Retna
LA-based artist RETNA loves going out to Miami. His bold and distinctive murals for Primary Flight, painted on some of the biggest walls around Wynwood since 2006, have become a part of the city’s artistic landscape.
The artist strives to embrace the universality of human experience in his work. You don’t need to decipher his letters to think of the different ways even ancient cultures have recorded their history.
Alex Diaz
This Puerto Rican street artist began her street artistry in 2009 and quickly became known for his impeccable attention to detail and unique style of painting.
Diaz’s unmistakable technique uses thousands of tiny black brushstrokes to create extraordinary murals. His work features fantastical and dreamlike depictions of animals in a state of metamorphosis. Diaz’s work is truly exceptional and beautiful experience.