WYNWOOD WALLS

After three rainy days in South Beach at Art Basel, sloshing from one art fair to the next in the neverending downpour of rain, the weather finally cleared up for an afternoon spent in my favorite Miami neighborhood: Wynwood. Wynwood Walls, the ever-changing epicenter of Miami street art, draws guests from all over the world looking to hobnob with "cool kids" of the art and skate culture, drink beer from the local breweries, and pose in front of the epic photo ops.

After a few meetings with friends fell through, I was forced to take these photos myself, just like in the early days of AA.  I forgot how funny it feels to pose for a timed "selfie" while other people are around - though no one seemed to mind, and a few folks even offered to take my photo.

Thanks for welcoming me back, Wynwood!

Top and pants: Milly

Shoes: United Nude

Photos by me.

CLARION ALLEY

I've been coming to San Francisco pretty frequently for work over the past two years, and the one thing I try not to miss each time I'm in town (aside from the Sockshop in the Haight) is Clarion Alley.  The alley is a tiny street in the Mission that is covered with graffiti, and it's different every time I'm in town.  Started in 1992, the Clarion Alley Mural Project is a collective that facilitates the painting and repainting of murals along the alley between Valencia and Mission Streets, with a content focus on social inclusion.

It's one of my favorite places in San Francisco, and it was such a treat to be able to share it with an old friend from the East Coast who recently relocated to the Bay Area after a long period of fulfilling her wanderlust.  Candace also happens to be a wonderful photographer (as well as a renowned writer), and we snapped lots of photos along the alley and then went around the corner to enjoy Southern fare and spiked sweet tea at Southpaw BBQ.

I'm looking forward to my next visit to San Francisco and can't wait to see what's new at Clarion Alley!

Jacket: Vintage, from Held Over in SF

Denim Jumpsuit: Banana Republic 

Boots: Pour la Victoire

Bag: Milly

Photos by Candace Rose Rardon.

PAWEL ALTHAMER: The Neighbors

Lured by a tweet from the New Museum, promising me that I could paint on their walls, I donned my work-in-progress doodle dress and descended upon the Fourth Floor gallery for Pawel Althamer's Draftsmen's Congress.  Initially a blank, white space, the room invites museum-goers to make their mark with provided supplies including paint, pastels, paper, and pencils.  It was almost more fun to walk around the room (and explore the teepee!) inspecting others' graffiti, but, of course, we had to make our own masterpiece as well.  I always consider it a good day when a museum guard signs my dress.

With a focus on collaboration and social & political networks, Polish artist Althamer's work allows him to occupy various roles: teacher, organizer, activist.  As a part of the exhibition (which also includes the haunting Venetians), Althamer arranged for a street band to play within the museum, and has also coordinated a coat drive through the Bowery Mission.  I highly recommend bringing everyone you know to this show, which encompasses beauty, interaction, politics, and social commentary in an engaging and edifying experience.

Dress: DIY (signed by some of my favorite graffiti writers and friends)  See the last time I wore it, at 5 Pointz.

Tights: Uniqlo

Blouse & Boots: Joe Fresh

Scarf: Vintage / handmade

Pawel Althamer: The Neighbors is on view at the New Museum on the Bowery in NYC through 4/13.

Photos of me by Maureen Nacy; other photos by me.

5 POINTZ

5 Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc. (also known as the Institute of Higher Burnin') is a converted warehouse space in Long Island City in Queens, which is completely covered with graffiti.  It originated as a safe place for graffiti artists to write, in order to discourage vandalism.  Writers from all over the world have tagged the city-block-sized abandoned warehouse, and it's been the site of some of the most compelling street art in the five boroughs--hence the name 5 Pointz.  This year, a $400 million residential project was approved, which will require demolition of the site.  In my protest, I hit 5 Pointz in a blank canvas dress, in search of writers who wanted to make their mark.

Tags by Kid Lew, Kazu, Shiro Japan!, and others.

Dress: H&M

Tagged with aerosol spray paint & Sharpies

Boots: Franco Sarto

Purse: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Photos by Kathy Paciello and myself.

NOW WEARING: Barry McGee.

Barry McGee (b. 1966) is a San Francisco-based artist who originally came on the scene as a street artist in the early 1990s.

Known by many different aliases, including Ray Fong, Lydia Fong, Bernon Vernon, Twist, and others, McGee's work was included in the 2001 Venice Biennale, which paved the way for his blue chip status in the art world today.

McGee's boldly graphic work deals with the overwhelming nature of advertising, and the plight of individuals existing the urban landscape.  His current exhibition at Cheim & Read features notorious geometric patchwork pieces in addition to pottery and a ballooned wall piece, which combines his surface design with sculpture.

Barry McGee is on view at Cheim & Read in Chelsea through October 26th.

Geo Shift by Pim + Larkin via Piperlime

Silk Blouse: H&M

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Boots: Franco Sarto

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

REVOK and POSE

During a downtown afternoon which included a stop at my favorite dumpling shop and a visit to the New Museum, I was fortuitously dressed to match the legendary Bowery and Houston mural, currently occupied by a collaboration between graffiti writers REVOK and POSE.  It consists of a sampling of tags from many different late writers, including Dondi, Iz the Whiz, Nekst, Tie, CASE2, Ayer, Rammellzee, Vaughn Bode, and took 6 days to complete.

"With layers of tributes to fallen graffiti writers, shout-outs to friends and family, and heartfelt thanks to the host city that sparked a global graffiti scene decades earlier (including this very spot), the visiting thirty something graffiti brothers couldn't quite quantify the depth of feeling they were experiencing as they slowly smashed a big wall in the heart of Manhattan."  Read the full recap here.

Silk Pants: Talulah

Tank: H&M

Sandals: Miss Trish Sslither

Necklace: Duro Olowu for JCP

Straw Handbag: vintage

Sunglasses: Ray-Ban aviators

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

BOOM FOR REAL

"Boom for real", an adage of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, implies short-lived, fast-paced, noteworthy, and life-changing--an accurate description of Basquiat's life and career itself.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was born in Brooklyn. He left home as a teenager and began tagging the Lower East Side under the pseudonym of SAMO.

Paralleled by his personality, Basquiat's rise to art world stardom was rapid and extreme. In just a few years, he went from being a semi-anonymous street artist, living on benches in Washington Square Park, to a prominent painter, with studio space in SoHo and gallery representation in the US and abroad.

Basquiat began working on canvas, and was classified as a Neo-Expressionist, alongside contemporaries Francesco Clemente and David Salle. He began working relationships with Andy Warhol and David Bowie, and was connected romantically with Madonna.

Basquiat's large-scale canvases were often covered in trail-of-thought text and incorporated layers of paint stick and spray paint, amassed while Basquiat worked with simultaneous precision and abandon. However meaningless some of the words and phrases appear, many of them are symbolic, and deal with issues of race and society.

Basquiat died of a heroine overdose in 1988 at the age of 27. His short life and career truly exemplified the meaning of "boom for real".

I'm wearing a vintage jumpsuit, vintage leather belt, Halston Heritage espadrilles, and a vintage leather drawstring bag.

In a very recent post, I mentioned Cy Twombly's influence on Jean-Michel Basquiat. As I was writing this post yesterday, I heard the sad news of Twombly's death at age 83 and couldn't help but wonder at what would have been, had Basquiat seen 60 more years of life.

RIP Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

[Basquiat images from ginavivinetto.wordpress.com, artmona.info, michaelarnoldart.com, and isak.typepad.com, respectively.]