Heineken Goes 305: Artists And Guests Party Hard to Celebrate New Wynwood Murals

The stars were out last night -- namely, little red stars on Heineken bottles at the beer company's Mural Launch Party at Cafeina in the Wynwood Arts District.Hundreds of guests were on hand to celebrate the official launch of the Heineken Mural Project, one of several satellite events during Art...

By Ily Goyanes

November 30, 2012

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The stars were out last night -- namely, little red stars on Heineken bottles at the beer company's Mural Launch Party at Cafeina in the Wynwood Arts District.

Hundreds of guests were on hand to celebrate the official launch of the Heineken Mural Project, one of several satellite events during Art Basel. The HMP features six world-renowned graffiti artists, several pop up parties, and a bike tour.

Although the HMP primarily celebrates art, last night was all about vibing. The artists, including Estria, Chor Boogie, Prime, Don Rimx, and Miami-based Trek6 and CP1, along with guests, enjoyed tagging up a huge wall. Guests danced to tunes both inside and outside, and all three bars were at least two deep most of the night.

Palpably excited, the crowd practically hummed with electricity. The only snafu occurred when the Heineken open bar ran out way before time (obviously due to the huge turnout). Note to Cafeina: Next time -- more beer. Although uber cool bartenders like Caroline, helped ease the pain somewhat.

Mural at the start of the evening:

Since the artists were on hand to mingle with art and beer lovers, we took the opportunity to speak with the two locals, as well as Estria, living legend and originator of the stencil tip.

Trek6 became a part of the HMP because he and his wife wanted to get involved with an initiative that would "promote urban art without the artists being abused."

As much support as the artists are getting from Heineken, true to its nature, street art is no walk in the concrete park. Says CP1, "I had a lot of obstacles to overcome with this project. There were trees and cable lines all over the place, blocking me."

But it was Estria who nailed what several locals were saying last night -- that it was really, really dope for a huge multinational corporation to promote street art on such a huge scale. "This is about opening people's eyes to different areas. Miami's eyes are open to art, but this is about more. We're opening the eyes of the corporate world."

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