Wynwood Walls in Miami

Wynwood Walls in Miami – a year by year overview

Wynwood Walls in Miami is a great place to visit: fun street art that changes on a (relatively) regular basis. You can return time and again to see your favorites or discover new artists and pieces. This article will be an archive on what’s happening and on view at the Wynwood Walls from year to year.

All photographs are by Christine O’Donnell for Thoughts on Art, except where noted. 

Wynwood Walls in Miami 2021 Edition

Outside the Walls

The biggest change at Wynwood Walls in 2021 is that now they’re charging for entry. You have to go in through one of the side streets rather than the former front entrance as well. 

While this used to be the main entrance, now it’s just fenced off.

It was cool to see El Mac’s “A Love Supreme (Wynwood Saints)” that looms over the complex completed: 

This piece epitomizes the fact that Wynwood’s art scene, while anchored in Wynwood Walls, is not only confined to this one small property. Many buildings (more and more in fact!) have taken the spirit of street art to heart. 

These shops (and the cranes above) are indicative of the “look” of the area – it incorporates colorful street art (even for mainstream brands) but is also rapidly gentrifying and growing (with higher-end and taller condos and buildings sprouting up where only warehouses used to be). 

 

OK – back to the interior of Wynwood Walls in Miami for some mural updates now

Wynwood Walls Murals

Here I’ll share (not in any particular order) the murals that I saw that were on display. The Wynwood Walls website doesn’t seem to be updated, and I saw things that seemed (interestingly) older than previous trips that I had never seen before. If I learn more about how they function for (re)installation I will write about it.  

Dasic Fernández

Dasic Fernández was working on his mural when I visited in 2019. It was such a gift to watch him work, and I loved seeing the final version for myself – especially as it meant I could get up close. (Check out 2019 below for some in-process pics)

 

 

 

Fernández’s control over the medium and originality make me hope this is a wall that’s maintained for a long time! 

Dan Kitchener’s The Girl in the Rain

This is one of the moodiest pieces at Wynwood. It gives a real sense of place, and transports you away from sunny Florida to a rainy night in Tokyo(?). Although, as a former denizen of 香港 (Hong Kong) which also has available taxis lit up with red circles on the dash, I can’t help but love this piece, entitled The Girl in the Rain. 

 

Michael Vasquez

Don’t know who I’m looking at here, but everyone is happy! 

Tatiana Suarez

Suarez’s mural is quite the shift from Vasquez’s one just adjacent. It’s fascinating to see all these different styles of murals and street art juxtaposed. 

Tristan Eaton

Eaton’s mural is a favorite of mine as it seems to exude female empowerment. Love! 

The Mural Kings (@tatscru)

 

Ernest Zacharevic

Created in 2015, I swear I had never seen this one before. Is it possible it was covered up and then revealed? I don’t know… but it is one of the few with mixed-media pieces creating sculptural elements at Wynwood walls. 

Martin Whatson

An oldie (or one that keeps getting redone) Martin Whatson’s Wynwood Walls piece is a charming blend of street art and optical illusion. 

A little note in closing the 2021 edition of Wynwood Walls in Miami…

We didn’t cover every mural. Many were the same from prior years. If this blog post blows up and we need to have an exhaustive list of what’s on view and what changes, we will – but for now, it doesn’t seem to be necessary! Feel free to have a look at prior years for some of the other murals. 

Drink and snacks on sale inside Wynwood Walls were welcome, as the line for ice cream outside was quite long!

 

Wynwood Walls in Miami 2020 Edition (as of now, we don’t have an archive of 2020 due to COVID-19) 

Wynwood Walls in Miami 2019 Edition 

Wynwood Walls in Miami 2019

Wynwood Walls is a great place to visit when in Miami. The wall murals change on a regular basis, offering street artists an artistic venue with a lot of foot traffic and a chance for appreciation from the masses.

Shepard Fairey’s mural is one of the first encountered when entering Wynwood Walls (2021 edit: no longer true: this was through the “old” entrance), and has also been there the longest, I would venture.

The crew and I came out to Miami a little ahead of Art Basel to redo my Wynwood Walls mural as a tribute to Wynwwod Walls creator Tony Goldman, who recently passed away.  I spoke to Tony’s wife Janet and discussed his inspirations in art, music, and politics. Many of his heroes are my heroes too, so I created a mural to celebrate Tony and our mutual inspirations. That’s Tony with the cowboy hat in the center warmly greeting visitors as he always did. The Goldmans have been an incredible support not only to me, but to many artists. The Wynwood Walls have a ton of great murals. Check them out if you come to Miami.

Shepard Fairey

Tony Goldman conceived of the “Wynwood Walls” concept back in 2009, and it’s become a thriving tourist destination as well as a location for enduring urban artworks to be appreciated in an outdoor setting. The walls are curated by he Walls are curated by Goldman Global Arts, which also runs an indoor gallery inside the complex. They claim the following (which I have no reason to doubt, but also no statistics to back up)

#1 Cultural attraction in Miami

21 Countries represented

100 artists

35,000 SQ FT of walls

75,000 gallons of paint

100,000+ spray cans

3,000,000 visitors per year

Goldman Global Arts

The walls are certainly compelling and I’ve loved every visit.

GGA Gallery at the end of the Wynwood Walls stroll is a strong addition to the outdoor art scene. It acts as as a place where visitors can bring a piece of the Wynwood experience home, and has both strong visitor numbers and sales. The art on view is mostly by current and past Walls artists, although other artists with a similar unique vibe are also present.

As someone who has always enjoyed political art this piece was a favorite, especially as the piece itself is a trapezoid, made to look like a shipping crate for a blue and white ginger jar, but rather than the traditional motif as decor, this features a landscape destroyed by floods.

Leon Keer, Fragile (2019)

Overall, Wynwood Walls is worth a visit whenever in Miami. In 2019 it was free to enter [2021 edit: it no longer is free, and you must reserve ahead of time], can be as short or as long a visit as one wants, is child friendly and is a chance to connect with artwork that isn’t traditionally shown in most museums.

Wynwood Walls in Miami 2018

Ah, once upon a time there were crowds at Wynwood Walls (and you could just walk up and stroll through!) 

Here’s a look at what the Walls looked like back in 2018 (this is a pastiche of content from both April and December 2018).

 

For reference, let’s start with the artist list. 

I believe this is a list of all the artists who have ever participated (as of 2018). Broken down/zoomed in here (excuse the poor quality – these were taken at night): 

 

Here are a selection of videos and stills of the wall in 2018. Apologies I don’t have all the references – I wasn’t actually writing a blog back then and didn’t know to be as rigorous with artist names. I’ll add in anything I receive in terms of information over time. 

 

 

 

Outside the Walls 

To finish – here’s a glimpse beyond Wynwood Walls back in 2018 – with other murals that no longer exist (as far as I know!) 

 

Keep coming back here for updates year on year!