Halopigg’s Top 35 From Miami Art Week 2016

Over the course of three weeks in Miami, 1xRUN Contributing Photographer & Writer Daniel Weintraub aka Halopigg took over two thousand art related photos. So needless to say when it came time to make a “top” or “best of” list he was pretty stumped. “I am naturally an appreciator of a lot of art, I don’t think I would have taken that many pictures of murals, fine art, graffiti, and artists if I did not truly have a vast appreciation for the entire culture. That being said, for this article I had to come up with a way to keep the photos to 35, so I did what I believe to be fair and based it off Instagram likes. Here in no particular order are the most liked Instagram photos from this year’s Miami Art Week.”

Zed1 painted three dope murals around Wynwood, two on this particular building and an additional wall for The Raw Project. I couldn’t get into the lot to get my usual shot but this far away flick ended up working just fine, I think people like the reflection shots.

Jules Muck aka MuckRock painted a fat set of grilled out lips just off Miami Ave in Wynwood in addition to a few other pieces around Miami. This was the first work of hers I saw and it left me cheesin’.

Marina Capdevila’s characters always make me smile whether they are chilling on a beach, riding in a convertible, or eating a cheeseburger. Now the kids at the Eneida M. Hartner Elementary school will be able to see her ladies and their fancy sunglasses every day at school.

Hot Tea dropped a handful of yarn bombs, or Yarn Burners as I like to call them, around Wynwood. This one photographed particularly well against the dark background so it’s the one I decided to post.

Overnight Nimai Kesten dropped a massive wheatpaste of Ai Weiwei on the building that Hebru Brantley was hosting his pop up solo show in. Hebru did as any mack would and dropped one of his classic Fly Boy character masks on top and let it rock for the duration of his show.

I first came across Dragon76’s work in Tokyo, Japan this past spring and then again in Long Beach, California over the summer. I was glad to see him painting in the streets of Wynwood, the final wall turned out excellent.

I’ve been following the work of Fintan Magee for a few years now but this year’s Art Basel was the first time I got to see him painting live. His biggest project over the week was at the Dolphin’s stadium for Goldman Global Arts but Fintan found time to drop this mirrored image of Australian photographer Callie Marshall for the Juxtapoz Clubhouse.

What a pleasure it was to meet Inkie this year at Art Basel! This is his wall for The Raw Project but he also rocked a few other smaller pieces around town. I can’t wait to run into this guy somewhere around the world, hopefully I get to England someday and we can chop it up across the pond!

Dodo rocked a collaborative wall with his buddies from the Ashop Crew as well as this sick roll down gate in the streets of Wynwood. The character is a combination of Benjamin Franklin and Jesus, two pretty famous guys!

Defer’s calligraffiti style was well on display at the always tasty J. Wakefield Brewing. I should have stopped in for a beer too but that never really helps me find more street art, just more beers. Defer how did I miss you??

Cinta Vidal busted out this 8′ by 8′ painting in two days for the Juxtapoz Clubhouse in addition to showing a mini solo show with Thinkspace Gallery at Scope.

Case Maclaim has absolutely crushed Miami in the past year with murals in Wynwood Walls, the Dolphins stadium, Little Haiti, and now at the Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School for The Raw Project.  As with many of Case’s pieces his subjects are specifically chosen for the project, for this wall he chose two children from the school’s after school program.

One of my only regrets this year was not catching Bordalo II in progress with this wall constructed from found materials. This piece is one that truly needs to be seen in person to get the full vibe which you can do next time you are in Allapattah, which for us tourists is the neighborhood just past Wynwood that seems to have more art stuff popping up every Basel.

I always love a good #StreetArtCollaboration and this emoji friendly mural by Damien Mitchell and Mike Maka is a great example. This wall can be found in the streets of Wynwood off Miami Ave near NW 21st I believe.

Patch Whisky and Ghostbeard always lay out their color palettes in a very photographer friendly manner. This particular time I was able to catch a dope flick of Patch pondering the wall.

I spent three weeks with Pixel Pancho in Miami including 20 hour car rides down and back. Not only is my painting hand now stronger for having helped on this wall but my Italian has never been better. This progress shot was one of many that I posted of Pixel’s work, it just happened to get the most likes.

A few weeks ago I got a message from @waterstreetjosh that he was making me a custom t-shirt to gift me at Art Basel. I could never have expected that it would be so amazing. Shoutout to Dido Fontana on the photo reference for the “mural” and to SHT! on the original shirt!

Wolfbat’s installation at the Juxtapoz Clubhouse was definitely a crowd pleaser, especially when someone would get ballsy and pull the rope that made the head move. I try not to touch the artwork so I never had that thrill.

I knew it was a really good, bad idea to get some super smelly weed out and have Sergio Garcia hold it in front of his dope sculpture for Thinkspace Gallery’s Scope booth. The bad part of the idea led to me having to explain to the security guard why it stank inside the tent for “art reasons” and the good part was obviously this amazing photo.

Zio Zielger snuck in and out of the Juxtapoz Clubhouse dropping this piece in a flash for all to enjoy. His super detailed work gets a lot of love on instagram, I’m glad they dropped the zoom in function.

The Obey crew helped Shepard Fairey bust out two walls in a few days in Wynwood. The first was a large wall on the facade of Mana Contemporary and the second piece was this wall on the front corner of the Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. It was really great to catch up with a bunch of the crew, and an honor to get that instagram follow!!

It seemed like every other day someone asked me if I saw the newest June piece. One was at the elementary school, and one on an old gas station, and another on the above structure. I’m not sure what the final count was but I know there were multiple walls of varying sizes and when I saw Mr. June on my last day’s in town it seemed as though he had few more to paint!

It was a pleasure finally getting to meet Okuda! From eating Ceviche at his opening to getting a signed copy of this book at the Montana Colors pop-up store it was all good stuff. I even got a re-post of my #GettingWeirdSeries take on his wall!

This looks like, and is, Martin Whatson’s wall for The Raw Project. It is, however, also the place where I somehow got a free stencil piece in a tree approximately 8 minutes after Martin posted the giveaway on his instagram page. I, unfortunately, sprained my toe quite badly on the first days of Basel which for a while caused me to have to take an Über everywhere. The one time I didn’t mind paying the $5 to go 12 blocks up NW 2nd street was when Martin announced his free art giveaway. I tipped that uber driver an extra $5 just to go a few blocks out of the way to scoop up a free piece!

Once in a while I remember that I have this super wide 14mm lens that takes dope pics. This James Jirat mural at Wynwood’s famed Electric Pickle benefits quite nicely from the lens. I’m sure there is an animated gif or something else bad ass coming from this wall but you will have to ask James himself.

One night at the Wood Tavern, A’shop Crew founding father Fluke walked in with a six foot trophy, I think it was for winning Art Basel by painting this wall on a ladder.

Technically Felipe Pantone, aka Pant1, painted this wall a few weeks before Basel but since he decided last minute to jump on a plane from Valencia, Spain after seeing my insta stories on Monday the week of Basel I decided to include him on this list.

Louis Masai has been traveling all across the US painting walls for his series The Art of Beeing. His final two walls in Miami consisted of a manatee at the Mana Contemporary compound and this alligator at Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School.

Getting a chance to shoot photographs around Martha Cooper is always an amazing and enlightening experience. I’ve had the chance to go around the streets of Baltimore with her as well as see her in her element shooting Wynwood Walls, and the most amazing thing to see is always how positively people respond to being photographed by her. Here she is shooting my buddy Dasic Fernandez within the Wynwood Walls complex, look out soon for a project I’ll be helping Dasic out with in Turks and Caicos!!!

It was an amazing delight to have Audrey Kawasaki painting a mural at The Hotel, which I happened to be staying at all Basel. Each hungover morning I would meander out to the dining area at the hotel and enjoy my first coffee of the day as Audrey and her assistant/husband Robert painted along with a delicate combination of house paints and oils. Make sure to check out the glass etching in the window of this art deco beauty that accents the mural perfectly.

I always love discovering new work at Art Basel which every year attracts different talents from all over the world. This year I discovered this wall and quickly found out about the work of Apitan from the beautiful country of Ecuador!

Back in the day I helped Beau Stanton build a boat inside the gallery I was working for, Succulent Studios, years later he painted a boat inside the Wynwood Walls.

ABCNT came to Miami and dropped some ultra relevant wheatpastes addressing the current situation taking place at Standing Rock. Thanks for the knowledge and the t-shirt sir, I will proudly wear it. #NoDAPL

Sebastian thought this picture was a little over saturated when I showed it to him, so I dropped the levels with the Instagram editing tools and boom!

It was nice finally meeting the Low Bros, I caught this in progress shot right before they finished their wall for the Juxtapoz Clubhouse, I wish they had been wearing their matching tennis outfits.

– 1xRUN

Words and photos by 1xRUN Contributing Writer & Photographer Daniel Weintraub – follow him @Halopigg on Instagram.