Walking In Miami's Wynwood And Nearby During Art Basel Week, 2012

The area, now full of street art, galleries and restaurants used to be an area you would have been hesitant to drive a car through. In fact, most of Miami was that way.

Hell, there are still plenty of alleys you do not want to walk up after the sun goes down but it isn't what it was. There are people out and about and while there is justifiable concern over the effect of such artistic gentrification (several visiting artists commented on it to me in 2011), the area still seems to have, in some ways maintained its former character while becoming a bit less "stabby."

The art itself reflects different strata of society. There is some that screams "high art" and others that hails to old school street art and still more that is simple, old fashioned advertising. Garbage cans, polls and posters all contribute as do "off the rack" decals (which some may regard as street art cheating).

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Not all of the pieces you see out in this area are self consciously trying to bend into a fine art mold. Most of it is just what it is--decoration for buildings whose character would be otherwise undefined. It is a poor city that, in these days, doesn't recognize that the art of the people doesn't add to community and character. And this doesn't refer to someone with a marker scratching out a tag. That is for those with a middle school mentality, those small minded folks who want their name to be the point.

And sometimes it is about tow trucks and guns and honky tonks (the honky tonk part seeming to be a tad surreal in Miami)

And other times you just don't have anyplace else to sleep.