Art about town

As you probably know, last weekend was the Wynwood Art Walk, and as usual I went down to help out at the gallery and scope out the others. I was a bit hesitant because of the rain, but fortunately it ended up being a really pretty night. My biggest complaint about the whole art walk scene is that it's become the "free booze" walk for many, and really that's disappointing. Unavoidable but disappointing.

Nevertheless, I had a good time. I didn't walk as far as usual because 1. my typical crew wasn't around and 2. I made the brilliant decision to wear new sandals. I still hit my favorite galleries and learned that Locust is moving to the Design District. This was the last walk they will host in Wynwood. Sad, but I haven't been as impressed with their exhibits as of late. Hopefully they become more interesting once they move.

Anyway, photos for you all:


What's inside the trailer? Take a peek and you will see several of these inviting and friendly beasts:


Disturbed? Drunk? Want to speak your mind and have it recorded? Go on ahead:


In all seriousness, let's check out some of the galleries. How about one of my favorites, Praxis?


(Francisco Uribe)


Thank you Praxis for constantly changing it up, and having an interesting mix of artists.

Across the street is the David Castillo Gallery, another one of my faves for the same reason


More Francisco Uribe. I see his stuff and it automatically appears here. I like his creativity with colors, resources and 3D awesomeness.



Then at the new gallery where Typo was, I found this awesome dude (the stuff on the walls? eh...)


And as I customarily do, this is the newest street art, all over Wynwood. It's replaced the Hecho con Amor en Colombia signs:


Sort of across from the UM Gallery was this guy:


Speaking of the UM Gallery, I was really disappointed with it this month. There were some interesting things there, but the gallery was really rather sparse and the collections were disjointed. I wasn't a fan. Though they did have a DJ from WVUM on their porch, which was cool.

I digress from my street art though. This last work pretty much sums up how I feel in the morning before I get my daily dose of caffeine:

Post V-day coverage

I haven't ever been big into Valentines Day. Growing up, my family never really put much stock into it. We aren't some crazy weird religion that doesn't celebrate holidays or birthdays, but my mom is from Europe and I guess it's not celebrated there.

But this v-day was nice. Literally. This past weekend was beautiful, nice and warm and sunny. We spent the day walking the boardwalk (I will take full advantage of it until they tear it down.) In our walk we saw lots of families out enjoying the day and a wedding on the beach (cheesy as hell, but the bridesmaid dresses were pretty.)

The evening was beautiful too, a cool 70, perfect for walking around. We hit up Wynwood (but no music this time) and the crawl was dead, which I prefer because it's not flocked with underagers trying to score free beer. Several galleries closed, including FiFi, but I liked alot of what I saw out there.

At Praxis, Francisco Uribe was displayed, which I loved, because he is really interesting in his use of materials. He is the guy who did the Animal Farm exhibit during Basal. This time he used shoestrings on traditional canvas, making the pieces more 3D. Check it out:



and from an angle:


At Diet, I found these, which my inner ninja-nerd loved:



Across from Diet, there is a very Jackson Pollock-inspired gallery, which sometimes I like and sometimes I don't. The following is one of those that I can't decide on. It's strange, kind of like those out-there red-carpet outfits on A-list celebrities trying to stand out:


Pan American had alot of their "optical illusion" style pieces up, but I didn't get a good photo, so I didn't post it. This gallery is becoming one of my favorites because they have a good mix of artists, they change it up and they always have something that makes you stop and observe, like this:

They actually shot the piece after it was put behind glass.

ISM also had new stuff up. Once again, I like their mix of artists (admittedly, when they have the roadkill stuff up, it sort of creeps me out and that hasn't been displayed for awhile)
I like what they did this time:

A close-up:

I loved this:



Then of course, as we were walking around, I caught some scenes from around Wynwood. As I was taking these pics, I realized that often I walk away from Wynwood with just as many pictures from the streets as I do from the galleries, and honestly, that has just as much draw for me, because you see art blooming in this neighborhood full of graffiti. I like that it sort of rubs out the pretension that clings to these things.




All in all, it was a good night. We finished up by heading to Transit to meet up with El Capitan and El Pedrino to catch a few drinks and jam out to the Spam Allstars. And again, for Transit on a Saturday night with a band like Spam, it wasn't too packed. I don't know if it's the economy or people were just busy getting romantical (yes I am aware that's not a word) with their significant others, but I appreciate being able to do things like dance, walk around and breathe when I am out listening to music.