Fear Less

Internationally renowned for its exceptional, continually evolving collection of curated street art, Wynwood Walls has been the epicenter of the Wynwood Arts District since its launch in 2009. Following that debut, art lovers around the world eagerly look forward to the annual unveiling of new walls during Art Basel Miami Art Week. Originally created by the late Tony Goldman, Wynwood Walls has been a labor of love for the entire Goldman Family-Janet Goldman, Joey Goldman and Jessica Goldman Srebnick. One of the highlights of the weeklong art fest, Wynwood Walls presents new works by the world’s most renowned street artists; often providing many their first opportunity to present their work in the United States.

This year’s program, entitled “Fear Less”, encompasses 12 new walls, all thematically linked by the title and a distinct double meaning– it is a call to be fearless in a world that often seems absorbed with fear. According to Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties and chief curator since 2012, “Every year we choose a unifying theme and ask our artists to somehow address this in their work with the goal of pushing the narrative. This year, with everything going on in the world I felt it appropriate to advocate a message of courage, in the hopes that we can all embody courage in our everyday lives.   Street artists by vocation are some of the most fearless people I’ve met — and here in Wynwood, we’ve grown from a marginal area that many feared to explore – into one of the most desirable art-filled locations in the world. My father (Tony Goldman) always said, ‘Don’t give in to fear,’ and this year we’re honoring that sentiment.”

Among the new murals, the program also features beautifully carved boulders by Ken Hiratsuka, a pioneering Japanese street artist known for chiseling intricate patterns into New York sidewalks in the 1980s and a longtime collaborative partner of the Goldman family. Excited to incorporate his brand of street art in Wynwood Walls, he says “Wynwood is so alive with painted imagery. It makes me happy to show people a different form, to show images in stone.”

“Fear Less” showcases the work of a varied mix of outstanding artists – some household names in the street art world, others up and coming. In addition to Hiratsuka, artists include AVAF (Brazil), Beau Stanton (CA, USA), Case (Germany)   Dasic Fernandez (Chile) David Choe (CA, USA), Faith47 (South Africa), Felipe Pantone (Spain), Findac (UK) , Okuda (Spain), Pixel Pancho (Italy,) Risk (CA, USA), Tatiana Suarez (FL, USA) .

In addition to the new murals for Wynwood Walls, Goldman Global Arts, a newly-formed company by Jessica Goldman Srebnick and artist Peter Tunney, responsible for the groundbreaking mural project at Hard Rock Stadium, will debut an exhibition in Wynwood Walls’ Garden House. The exhibition will feature original works of art by many of the Wynwood Walls’ artists, including Crash, Daze, Logan Hicks, The London Police, Case, Hueman, Inti, Pose and Faith 47. Comprised of both paintings and sculptures, most of the pieces have never been seen and are the most recent works of these most dynamic and creative artists working today. The show co-curated by Goldman Srebnick and Tunney will open to the public December 1st.