Wynwood Wanderings

I have a conundrum.  When I began this blog 8(!!!) years ago this month, the plan was to post at least one travel-related entry per month.  Knowing my mastery of the art of procrastination, I even chose a title that would, by its very definition mandate that I keep to this schedule.  So far, 213 posts later, it has all been well and good.  Even on the slow months, I have always managed to find some place that I deem to be blog-worthy.

But so far, this month has been a different story.  I have gone to exactly two places.  The first, Des Moines, Iowa managed to spectacularly destroy my "avoid the winter of 2013/14" plans.  It was something-below-zero degrees.  I don't remember the exact temperature but it doesn't matter. Anything below zero is uninhabitable and anyone that thinks otherwise is nuts.  I chose to protest these inhumane conditions by following the path of activists and freedom fighters throughout history.  That is, if their protest took the form of ordering room service and catching up on Netflix.  This approach kept me warm but it didn't exactly make for a scintillating blog post.
The following day, I found myself in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  It was in the 80's.  I had survived and my flip-flops were back on my feet, where they belonged.  It was time to rejoice, bar hop and drink every bottle of Medalla Light within my line of sight.  In all this merry-making, not one photo was snapped. Not a one.  No pics= crappy blog post.

So now what?  January 2014 needs a post.  On Thursday, I was lamenting this situation to a friend of mine (no, I can't think of a more 1st world problem either) as I was repeating a tour I had just given earlier this week.  In both instances, I was introducing people to my neighborhood, which just happens to the setting for some pretty spectacular street art, when it dawned on me that, were this not walking distance from my home, this is a place I would actively seek out.  As in, buy a ticket and fly to wherever this was and be thrilled to post about it later.

A little history: Wynwood, as it is called, was originally a predominantly Puerto Rican working-class area divided roughly into residential and industrial areas.  Growing up, unless you worked in one of its many factories or were looking for a good mugging, there was no real reason to go there.  Sometime around 2010, this started to change, when a real estate developer, Tony Goldman, who is credited with revitalizing SoHo, began buying up properties.  He invited world renown street artists to come and treat the blank walls as their personal canvases. Thanks to the low rent, there were already some galleries in place, but not much else. It was Goldman who opened the first two restaurants in the area.

Fast forward just a few years and now it is the rare month when there is not some new store/ bar/ gallery opening up.  Just today, I read that the area is getting its first bank, complete with a laser light show...because what other kind of bank would you open up in Wynwood.

My favorite thing to do here is to simply wander the streets and admire the work.  This was particularly gratifying last month, as all the new murals were going up for Art Basel.  There was one artist, Chor Boogie, whose work I liked so much that I am certain I was one visit, tops, from being served a restraining order.  For a week straight, I would wake up, walk over there to check on his progress, have lunch, walk around a bit more, go check on him again, hit up an art show, grab a drink, go check on Mr. Boogie.  Perhaps as a result of my fixation, it is currently my favorite of all the murals.





A close second would have to be the work of Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra.








Or maybe it's the work of the Portuguese artist VHILS, who instead of adding paint to the walls, creates his images by chipping away at them



How about the Aussie, Rone, whose lovely stylized ladies can be found on several walls?




I have no clue whose mural this is, but behind those walls, they are making some really tasty beer, so big ups to them.


And across the street, you have Greek Ino's mammarial masterpiece.
http://www.ino.net/
More random, unidentified stuff...



Not all murals are the work of a single artist, some are collaborations such as this one by the all female collective, Deity Art.



Or this one that combines Retna's cool hieroglyphs with El Mac's hyper-realistic renderings.



One artist whose work I was familiar with, pre-Wynwood, was Dutch artist, London Police. The reason: because there is not a single canal in all of Amsterdam that does not bear his shiny happy circle people.


In preparing this post, I learned a couple of things, such as the fact that these very guy-ish murals were actually done by a lady from Singapore that goes by the name of Sheryo.





Or that there are some pretty interesting "making-of" videos out there.



Or this one:



Wander. Wander. Wander.  We've got Danielle Brutto's Ode to the Texter.


Someone that is trying to give small children nightmares.


Reka One showing why he is so much better than Reka Two.


Don Rimx using every crayon in the box.




Luis Valle dotting all his i's, t's and a's.



Alexis Diaz's side-eye giving mega-fish.


Interesni Kazki bugging out.




Scott Debus representing los zapatos por mayor.


Random stuff.


Entes y Pesimo


Hey look!  My hair salon is in that building. Take my word for it.


More randomness...


........plane!......




Stop in the name of Nunca.


And finally, what happens when you gather a group of people who may have all had questionable childhoods.


Conundrum solved.

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