Wynwood Art Walk- Has The Art Become an Afterthought?

My daughter and I went to Wynwood Art walk last weekend after not having been there in a while.  Needless to say things have changed quite a bit. The food truck area, which once was just a small part of the walk, has now become a huge event. There are tons of vendors where the new concrete floor was layed, as well as a tent with a DJ and 3 bars. One can spend the whole time, remaining entertained, in this section of art walk without even venturing out to the art galleries. So that begs the question- is the art becoming an afterthought? Should it be called food truck extravaganza or hand crafts market instead?

Harold Golen Gallery- Big Eyes Show

Entertainment on stage by food trucks and vendors. I thought this guy was going to break!

I was there for two reasons- my sister was vending, she makes water pipes out of bottles, her site is Recycled Jude and my husband was out of town. My daughter wanted to go to art walk because recently all her friends have been going and posting pictures on their Snapchat stories. That’s what it has become, an area that everyone from mainland Miami to Boca Raton is flooding in order snap pictures of the murals and hang-out.  There’s is nothing wrong with that but many say that the focus on the art has been lost. It’s now a smorgasbord of food trucks, not so great art being sold on the street, people selling wares and kids just looking for a free good time. I don’t think this happens all the time, it mostly happens during art walk.

Breakdancing during Wynwood Art Walk

DJ at Wynwood Art Walk

Yet, I must say that my daughter and I had a great time. We parked quite a a ways from the vending section so we took a nice walk up to the action on NW 2nd. Once there we shopped the vendors and found an amazing father and daughter team who sell their handmade jewelry, Daddy Daughter Jewelry– beautifully boho-ish and very original. We had some trouble finding a food truck we wanted to eat from. Not because there aren’t enough choices, just the opposite, there are too many choices making it really hard to choose one. Later we went into the “dance music” tent to watch break dancers and kids whip-ing/nay-nay-ing. She is 12 and well she likes that type of thing; lots of good video footage was shot that day.

Irina Davis at Brisky Gallery

Brisky Gallery

Muralist outside of Brisky

We took a back street route out of there at 12am when the vendors where starting to pack-up. It was nice for us because we got to spend time with my sister and it was a great place for my kid to check out things that usually don’t occur  in our part of town. Oh and we did go into some of the art galleries, Brisky for instance, always has good quality work on their walls and Harold Golen Gallery had some gorgeous big eyed stuff.

So there you have it, that may be the problem, the art is an afterthought in the hot-mess that Wynwood Art Walk has become in the last few years.  If you are interested in the art go on a non art walk day or stay off the main strip and check out other art related events that are happening in conjunction.

Harold Golen Gallery

Brisky Gallery