Street Art Takes Center Stage

© Tracy Block

Graffiti Gone Global

The Miami Beach Convention Center wasn’t the only entrance into the heart of the famed Art Basel Miami Beach. Thousands of locals, visitors, curators, collectors and artists all hit the Magic City in search of art in its many stimulating forms. Electronic sculptures, abstract strokes and showered canvases flooded Miami’s Design District all the way to South Beach. 

Art & Aerosols 

The paint fumes wafted through the air at Midtown’s Graffiti Gone Global, which seems to get better with age. The 3-year-old program took over a 4,000-square-foot space from Friday, December 4 through Sunday, December 6. Conceptualized by SUSHISAMBA’s Shimon Bokovza and curators Danielle Billera and Matt Johnson, the Japanese and South American-inspired Graffiti Gone Global built an exhibit of both live instillations and inspired works. “Bringing art to SUSHISAMBA is something that is a natural evolution in our whole concept and experience,” Bokovza said. “We would only call upon the best talent to execute a dream that was sparked with the inception of Art Basel.”

Graffiti Gone Global is about a common element that both inspires and unites cultures from all over the world. There’s so much depth in street art: love, politics, struggle and diversity. The naiveté that graffiti is associated with often gives it a bad wrap, but when you take an extended look into what these works truly represent, it’s amazing to see the supreme talent of expressionism.

From Global to Local

An appreciative group of street art enthusiasts gathered to browse, buy, booze and bite Friday evening. With Leblon Cachaca caipirinhas and tuna samples from SUSHISAMBA’s upcoming Sugarcane Lounge in hand, Miami movers and shakers stood idly as urban artists like Flip (Brazil), Shiro (Japan) and Dexos (Miami) used steady hands and popping colors to turn white planks, walls and canvases into stunning eye candy.

“Art Basel is amazing, it brings so many artists together from my hometown and from all over the world,” Dexos A.K.A. Alexis Samaniego says, constructing a cascade of blue water to represent Mount Fuji. “Basel gives lots of young artists opportunity.” Dexos has been an avid street artist since he began tagging walls at age 14. His current claimed territory is on 17th Street and 2nd Avenue in Miami across from an Ace Hardware, where he’s created Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and his version of the Taj Mahal. Dexos is one of many local graffiti gurus who is all about spreading the love. He publishes recordings of his work in accelerated time at youtube.com/freshmiamigraffiti.