For those who still shoot dope, rob, thieve, and steal to pay the bills, a new series of social expressionist works have exploded in Wynwood.
The artist, known only as MXYTSPLYK, has been gluing his visions to the walls of the city and paying tribute to the local characters who populate it.
The multiple Youth Fair award winner is a prolific painter, represents himself, and is doing this "just to get attention. No one's really gonna know what the hell my name is or anything. They're just gonna immediately recognize the Garbage Pail Kid style."
Here are some more of his works and his explanations behind them.
29th Street and Biscayne Blvd.
Splyk says, "If you are from this area, you might recognize the styrofoam cups
with overflowing purple codeine beverage. This is my take on the character AbleGW who paints those pieces. His walls are hard to miss and
delight anyone who passes by them."
36th Street and NE Second Ave.
"These works are based on people I admire or inspire me. So I guess I'm putting them up to honor them as well as mock them, but in a friendly way. Gnarly Charlie is an enlightened boy gouging three of his eyes while he points seven fingers
in the air; this is a tribute to a member of the South Side Kings by the
alias "3i7." Alouishous san Coma is a friendly jab at Aholsniffsglue."
23rd Street and NW Second Ave.
"Micks Split is one man with two
sides, a man of contradictions and vices. He is a saint and a sinner, a preacher and a killer. All in all, he is
an allegory of myself, and also an easy way to pronounce my name: MIX IT
SPLICK."
Interestingly, he admits, "I'm kinda against what I'm doing -- against doing retro shit and mimicking shit like Garbage Pail. But the truth is that people can identify and connect to it, and some of the ones I've put up, I notice people ripping 'em down intact, not like ripped, not like destroyed, but peeled off slowly. I guess people wanna put 'em in their house or on their refrigerator or something."
Churchill's Pub
"Willy Wynwood is inspired by the true
grittiness of Wynwood. This area might be recognized internationally
for the growing art scene and trendy gastropubs, but its true essence is in the junkies who roam the streets shooting up their
poison -- the scavengers at night who steal what they can to find their
bliss."
Here is some older work by the same artist that you might recognize if you're ever in the area, located across the street from Fredric Snitzer Gallery:
And a more recent large-scale portrait, on 29th Street at NW Second Ave:
And as alias "Robert Blanco" on the "Garden Gate" at the Vagabond.
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