Eight South Florida artists put up their work throughout Wynwood on Monday,as part of Save Art Space’s first installation in Miami. During Miami Art Week, these works are being shown on three billboards and five bus stop shelters.
Save Art Space, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, buys or receives donated advertising space to temporarily showcase local art. The group is funded by donations. It also exhibited artwork in New York earlier this year.
Miami artist Troy Simmons said Save Art Space is an important way to showcase a unique variety of artwork.
“Wynwood is known for graffiti, but this is a way to introduce a new genre of art into the community and it shows how diverse art really is,” described Simmons, “You can bring a painting that will be interesting and decorate outside of the neighborhood the same way you can do the inside of your home.”
Simmons’ piece lines the bus stop at Northwest 29th Street and Second Avenue. Using color and concrete to create organic forms, Simmons said his art is inspired by nature, architecture and the diverse blend of cultures he’s experienced in Miami.
“It’s kind of like if you see a little piece of grass growing through a crack in the sidewalk,” Simmons explained, “So the works are kind of related back and forth between man, nature and pushing through struggle.”
Other works in the Save Art Space project include photography, painting and mixed media. The installation will be up through Dec. 6, marked with the hashtag #SaveArtSpace.
