Long gone are the days of the Pigalle Mansion during Miami Beach’s Art Basel and while the KNOWWAVE house outlasted Pigalle by a year or two it seems the insider-y, underground nature of where streetwear’s favorites spent their Art Basel days have come to a close. Without those legendary around-the-clock-for-days-on-end pop up parties, new spaces are being made for streetwear and sneaker adjacent brands and artists to take their talents to South Beach.
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Just Landed In Miami. All Roads Lead To @11miami Tonight! 11:11pm #nosleep 📷 @davin_gentry
Geiger celebrates the arrival of the 002
While it only makes sense for former Miami resident to plan his latest release in the 305, John Geiger went above and beyond collaborating with the city’s newest mega club, E11EVEN, on his Art Basel 002s. On December 6, 2018, Geiger and E11even hosted an event where G-Eazy performed. Attendees that spent $10,000 or more on tables (which is actually insanely normal there) got a pair of 002s in their desired size. Coincidentally, 11 tables ended up with a pair of sneakers.
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Art basel ‘18 was fire, big thank you to everyone involved 💙 📸 @dark_white
First of its kind and the only skate shop in Miami, Andrew, had a packed week of Art Basel events. In addition to hosting a Design District pop-up, it kicked off the week with the opening of the Andrew Skate Plaza on Monday, December 3rd. The shop followed up on Wednesday with an event celebrating Sneeze magazine’s 2019 calendar launch, and on Thursday, it dropped an Andrew x FriendsWithYou collaboration. Friday marked the release of an X-Girl x AWAKE NY t-shirt and hoodie collaboration. The release was celebrated with a proper Bashment at 1306 Miami, a downtown club where reggae singer Wayne Wonder performed. Finally, Andrew and Jenkem magazine hosted a block party where Kanye West popped and learned how to ollie. [Note: featured image from Andrew x Sneeze event: Camilla Accornero, Barbara Torasso and Maria Garrone as shot by Vikram Valluri for BFA.]
Nike reeled it in a little this year and focused on women. Rather than the Off-White soccer match of last year, the brand and illustrator Kelli Shami hosted a sports bra customization station at Miami’s SoHo House. The brand’s much-coveted collabs with Ambush and Comme Des Garçons were also on display for all the girls to see and try on.
Kappa did, however, bring a full soccer match downtown. In partnership with Soccer Cage Miami, Kappa hosted a charity soccer game on Friday and archive exhibition to benefit YoungArts. Virgil Abloh, Jesse Boykins and Reese LaFlare all stopped by the game to support.
Puma also had some art week presence. On Wednesday at the Puma Select Store in the Design District, the brand held a brunch for its Bradley Theodore collab and Theodore did a live painting. They also partnered with Puma girl YesJulz as a sponsor for her Friday evening 1AM Basel Block Party at the RC Cola Plant in Wynwood.
Creative collective KidSuper held an experimental exhibition showcasing Colm Dillane’s mix media paintings inside The Factory. The exhibit included a pile of donated clothing, which attendees were encouraged to customize with sewing machines and screen printers.
It wasn’t just the parties or the product launches and releases, though. Streetwear and sneakers all showed up at the art fairs. At SCOPE Art Fair, artist CB Hoyo’s work called “Fake Hype Beast” looked like a knock off Murakami with the words “FAKE SUPREME, FAKE YEEZYS, FAKE MURAKAMI, I’M BALLIN” scrawled over the happy flowers. Jason Dussault’s “Kickback Series” was comprised of glass tile sneaker sculptures including Nike Air Max 97, Vans and a variety of Jordans.
Streetwear even made it to the big show: Art Basel. Aside from pieces from the culture’s favorite artists, Takashi Murakami, KAWS, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, on display in multiple booths, Nanzuka‘s booth was centered around the work of Japanese artist Haroshi, who utilizes old broken down and used skateboards to create his pieces.
While the scene of Art Basel Miami Beach has long had a foundation of the refinement of the international art world, it’s refreshing to see more satellite fairs pop up and diverse brands get involved because creators do not fit into a one box. This year furthers the idea that there is space for everyone in the art community.
Authored by Rae Witte.
