Miami New Times' Mastermind Awards honors the city's most inspiring creatives. This year, we received more than 100 submissions, which our staff narrowed to an elite group of 30. We'll be profiling those honorable mentions, and eventually the finalists, in the weeks to come. This year's three Mastermind Award winners will be announced February 28 at Artopia, our annual soiree celebrating Miami culture. For tickets and more information, visit the website.
The life of Miami artist Aholsniffsglue has been a wild ride. Literally. In June of 2012 the street artist was run down by a speeding car. He and his moped took a serious spill, and the accident left him with a hematoma.
Though he was temporarily debilitated, injury couldn't keep the lifelong Miamian down for long. Nowadays, he's sworn off of cars, scooters, and the like, and gets around via bikes and buses. His new modes of transportation serve as fuel for his creative fire, and he makes digital masterpieces by cell phone while riding.
"It's just a matter of, like, appreciating time and just being alive and just being grateful for everything. Being really heavily inspired by my surroundings, by Miami in general. I've gotten a crazy burst of creative energy," he says. "I just feel like every second counts, I don't know how long I'm gonna be around."
See also:
- Miami Artist Aholsniffsglue Hospitalized After Hit And Run in MiMo
Cultist: How did the hit and run change you?
Ahol: Whatever cards you're dealt with you gotta keep on playing. The way I see it, it let me see how much people really appreciate me as a person and what I do. It's kind of cool. I got this crazy burst of energy. I could have been dead.
The cop ended up giving me the video. Even seeing myself get run over on video, I appreciate the video. Just to have it. I mean, people get run over all the time, they never get to see it happen. That in itself is pretty amazing. It was pretty weird, the police can at least give you a souvenir.
You painted the house for Tough Love, right? So if you could create your own reality show, what would it be?
It would definitely cater around Miami's public transportation. Especially the #3 bus that goes up and down Biscayne, too. It's interesting, I love it. People are like, 'I hate riding the bus,' but it's so weird, I love it. It's awesome. It's like you see people there, going through some good times, bad times. Everybody's there, going from one place to another. It's really motivational. I don't know, maybe it's because I wasn't exposed to that my whole life. I never rode buses, so riding it [now], I'm really motivated by different people all the time and the same people all the time. You get to know the bus drivers; they have no idea who I am or what the hell I do. It's kind of cool.
If you could paint a mural on any building anywhere, which would it be?
It would have to be one that wouldn't get painted over, especially with the stuff going on with walls being expunged. It would definitely be one that would stay forever. People paint walls and the building owners are like, whatever, time for new paint. They take that shit for granted sometimes.
I never see a building and am like, man, I wish I could paint it, but I guess whatever building you're given is the perfect building.
You've worked a lot of 9-to-5's to support yourself. Any favorites?
The reality is, every job I've worked full 40 hours a week I've had zero creativity. I just see it as a paycheck that lets me do what I want to do. My real day starts when I get out of work. I'll probably be up all night long figuring out what I'm gonna get into. The biggest paycheck is the one I like the most.
You've worked with everything from walls to plushies. Any medium you haven't worked with that you want to?
Pretty much anything I can get my hands on, I've wanted to fuck with it. I think anyone can make something with whatever. You don't necessarily have to be trained or schooled in anything. Whatever you can get your hands on, whether it's up to the standards of people who've been doing it for awhile. I'm open to whatever. It's just usually what I work with depends on the space I have available, the funding. Whatever happens, happens. I'm just mad grateful for everything.
2013 Mastermind Award Honorable Mentions:
Aholsniffsglue
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