Surface Merchants' 100-Foot 3-D Wall Takes Over Cafeina

Next art walk in Wynwood, on Saturday, April 9th, the Surface Merchants blast off with 100 feet of large scale interlocking wood-work blazed with shape-cuts and painted graphics. There's a pirate ship with true, steel port hole, a 15-foot tall woman, water, smoke, and monsters. Pieces jump off the wall...

By Jacob Katel

March 23, 2011

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Next art walk in Wynwood, on Saturday, April 9th, the Surface Merchants blast off with 100 feet of large scale interlocking wood-work blazed with shape-cuts and painted graphics. There's a pirate ship with true, steel port hole, a 15-foot tall woman, water, smoke, and monsters. Pieces jump off the wall in 3-D.

Three local artists who continue to make their mark on the city are responsible: Alex Yanes, Daniel Fila (AKA Krave), and Raymond Adrian (AKA Gems). We stopped by the Surface Merchants warehouse in

the trenches of Tamiami to check out the work. Krave said "Scale is everything. We wanna do something monumental."

Here's a video we didn't produce that explains the show:

Here's the warehouse:

"It could be kids or old ladies, gangsters, skaters, or punk rockers. Anybody could dig this shit."

"We're trying to give Miami an identity so that we can compete on a global scale."

"Jigsaw, hammer, nails, staple gun, nail gun. Basic carpenter tools."

"We're gonna ride this out. Our objective is to, like, penetrate the museum stratosphere, and the institution of art, starting with the MoCa museum down here.

"We wanna bring eyes from L.A .and New York. This is a big show for April. We wanna make this like our Basel."

"We want the Guggenheim, and it's not just about the museums, but about going global, and the museums are the most officious way to do it."

"Our ideas are all running off each other so we're developing themes like women in our lives, and water."

"I find myself designing for the jigsaw, drawing shapes that Alex can cut."

"I've known Alex and Danny for a while. Me and Krave did three floors of murals together in the Whitelaw Hotel on South Beach. Yanes has been trying to put all three of us together for a while now."
"The manager of Transit Lounge offered us this wood from the roof up there from the '30s so we've got a whole lot of that."

Freedom In Postgraffism, presented by the Surface Merchants Collective, and Michael Margulies Artist Agency. Opening reception Saturday, April 9th at Cafeina (297 NW 23rd St, Wynwood) from 7pm-11pm.

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