December 6, 2024
Once an expanse of abandoned warehouses, Miami’s Wynwood Walls has become, since opening in 2009, what the artist RISK has described as the “Olympics of street art.” Developer Tony Goldman (who had previously helped transform New York City’s SoHo and Philadelphia’s 13th Street) had the idea of inviting the world’s preeminent graffiti artists to turn the facades of Wynwood’s buildings into canvases for eye-popping murals.
The riotously colorful results were a smash hit, creating a sense of excitement and irreverence in the open-air complex that many traditional museums could never match. (It didn’t hurt the eminently photogenic site’s popularity that Wynwood Walls debuted not long before the 2010 launch of Instagram.)
Street Art Icons ($120), a new coffee-table book from Assouline, tells the story of Wynwood Walls from its start to the present, through images as well as commentary by participating artists such as Shepard Fairey, Maya Hayuk, Kenny Scharf, and Ron English. Wynwood Walls curator Jessica Goldman Srebnick supplies perspective on the legacy of the site’s founder (and her father), Tony Goldman, who died in 2012.
Best of all, hundreds of photos—many of them previously unreleased—provide behind-the-scenes views of muralists at work as well as layouts showcasing the more than 150 works displayed at Wynwood Walls since 2009.
Given that outdoor murals fade and are frequently replaced, the book’s year-by-year chronicle of these ephemeral opuses in spray paint isn’t only visually astonishing but also indispensable as a record of past artworks.
For travelers, the book makes a compelling argument for heading to Miami to see what’ll be created at Wynwood Walls next.
Scroll on to see a selection of images from the book provided to Frommer’s by the publisher.
Pictured above: wide shot of a mural by artist Drik the Villain