Miami Art Week features sand maze, a subway and countless murals

MIAMI – If you couldn’t tell from all the traffic, it’s Miami Art Week, bringing artists from around the world to South Florida to showcase their work.

Entertainment reporter Alexis Frazier stopped by a few spots that are free or cost less than $20 to get in.

From a maze taking over the sand to a subway cart taking over the Wynwood Walls — these are some of the most unique galleries and projects that you’re going to see.

Miami Art Week has thousands of galleries that stretch from the sand to land.

On the beach is one of the biggest public art projects at this year’s Miami Art Week – a sand maze.

“I would love the maze to function as a place for people to escape, to disconnect. To come here and connect with others,” artist Sebastian Errazuriz said.

It’s called Maze: Journey Through the Algorithmic Self and is made of 11 miles of linear plywood and covered with three coats of sand.

“This is your childhood sandcastle on steroids,” Errazuriz said.

The AI maze sits on the beach outside of the Faena hotel and is free to visit.

“The AI maze is the first maze designed, not to get lost, but to find ourselves because we probably are quite lost right now,” Errazuriz said.

Opposed to most mazes that have only a pathway going through, this one has a large center in its core that has a public square to replace the digital public square.

Local artists are getting their shine this weekend too.

In Wynwood on 26th Street, Bleacher Report is showcasing five NBA teams, including our Miami Heat.

Miami native Covl was selected to create a piece that will be sold on shirts.

“I wanted to re-interpret what Burnie would look like, and after doing some research on Burnie, everyone thought he was a bird,” Covl said. “I was like, ‘how can I make Burnie more of a character because it’s a flame holding a basketball.’ So in my traditional illustration style, I like to create characters and monsters. For that piece, I wanted to pay homage to Burnie.”

Around the corner in Wynwood Walls, a subway has been taken off the tracks and traveled from Chicago to Miami.

“The subway kind of sits at the core of the street art movement. It’s where it really all began. It was a way for artists to kind of paint and have a larger audience because the subway would travel throughout the community,” Jessica Goldman Srepnick, of Wynwood Walls, said.

The subway is just one new activation here.

Wynwood Walls, which is open year round, is known for being the largest street art museum.

It’s a place of hope, color, inclusivity — a place to explore and wonder and be bold.

New murals go up each year during Miami Art Week — some with a message, like one titled “Say Gay.”

“Wynwood is the center for the creative class. Wynwood celebrates art, it celebrates public art and really celebrates street art in particular,” Goldman Srepnick said.

Click here for more information on events happening for Miami Art Week and Art Basel.