Miami art event showcases ‘creative’ heartbeat of Magic City, attracts the curious from all over

Miami, Florida – Miami Art Week 2022 has been taking place this week — and this year, instead of a $120K banana taped to a wall, it brings along with it a larger-than-life bowl of eggs, and much more.

Every year, for a week in December, the Magic City of Miami, Florida, transforms into a hub of artistic activities of all kinds.

(It also brings Miami’s already horrifying traffic to an absolute standstill.)

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Miami Art Week 2022 is a 6-day event held here from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4, 2022. 

Celebrities, influencers, big-name artists and wealthy collectors from around the world flock to Miami to get a glimpse of the art, attend the endless parties and see the extravagant VIP happenings. 

At the heart of the art scene is Wynwood Walls, an outdoor street art museum encompassing 80,000 square feet of walls.

It’s been in Miami for almost 15 years — and people here say no trip to Miami would be complete without a visit to it.

“We looked at it as something that had the ability to raise a neighborhood.” 

Walls curator Jessica Goldman Srebnick, who is also CEO of Goldman Global Arts, gave Fox News an inside look at how the Walls have transformed not just Wynwood but also the public perception of graffiti as an art form.

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“People kind of looked at graffiti as vandalism, you know?” she said. 

“We looked at it as something really beautiful — something that had the ability to raise a neighborhood. Something that people could be really, really proud of,” she also said.  

Srebnick’s late father, Tony Goldman, was the original visionary of the Wynwood Walls, which he founded in 2009. 

When he first visited, the area was more of a concrete jungle than an artistic hub. 

Murals of all shapes and sizes cover the entirety of the Wynwood area and spill into other neighborhoods in Miami. 

The industrial warehouse district was “a neighborhood that a lot of people viewed as hopeless or in need of love,” Srebnick said.   

Now, world-renowned street artists such as Shepard Fairey, Kobra and Tristan Eaton are just a few of the hundreds of muralists and street artists gracing the Walls with their work.   

Murals of all shapes and sizes cover the entirety of the Wynwood area and spill into other neighborhoods in Miami. 

They’re on more than just walls, too.

Srebnick said corporations of all kinds have approached her asking about being part of the art movement.

The murals cover almost any available space, including sidewalks, rooftops — even luxury cars. 

“I feel like [Wynwood Walls] is the cultural center of our city,” said Srebnick.

She also said of the street art movement, “I also look at it as kind of the pebble that dropped into the pond that created these reverberating ripples around the world.”

“Art speaks to the times we’re living in.”

A recent Forbes article described “this gradual acceptance of street art into mainstream art circles” — and said it may offer an “increased potential for those looking to invest.” 

Srebnick said corporations of all kinds have approached her asking about being part of the art movement.

“Real estate developers, high-profile businesses such as the NFL, and public venues like Hard Rock Stadium wanted to do really creative things, but didn’t necessarily know how,” she said. 

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Businesses of all kinds, said Srebnick, are incorporating murals on everything from the side of a new condominium complex to the hull of a cruise ship to the face of a Super Bowl ticket. 

It’s no surprise to Srebnick that street art has moved off the walls and into business branding. 

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“Art speaks to the times we’re living in. It differentiates a place, a product, an environment — and people want to be in creative spaces,” she said. 

As for Miami traffic — Srebnick said it’s still a work in progress. 

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Miami Art Week includes an online art fair and multimedia platform. 

It provides individual artists, galleries and arts organizations with the opportunity to exhibit and promote artwork to collectors, VIPs and art lovers worldwide, according to its website.