Street Art

As a creative genre rooted in subversion and vandalism, in graffiti iconoclasts like Basquiat and Haring, and in political protests and revolutions, it would take a visionary to have the foresight to monumentalize the street art movement into a museum. Enter property developer Tony Goldman, who established Wynwood Walls in 2009, transforming a once run-down expanse of warehouse buildings in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood into what is now recognized not only as one of America’s most successful urban renewal narratives, but also the world’s first meaningful—and undisputably still most significant—exhibition center for international street art. In Street Art Icons: The Story of Wynwood Walls, readers will discover not just a book documenting fifteen years of this seminal institution, but a book on the art form itself, a comprehensive tribute to the discipline essential for street art connoisseurs and casual fans alike.

Featuring never-before-seen photography of The Walls’ development and special commentary from street art’s most iconic figures, including Shepard Fairey, Maya Hayuk, Kenny Scharf, Ron English, and curator Jessica Goldman Srebnick, the title effectively charts why and how Wynwood Walls became a phenomenon, known as a milestone in artists’ careers, with an ability to catapult unknowns and veterans alike. Pages full of high-impact shots by renowned documentary photographer Martha Cooper—who has been capturing the over 150 murals and pieces created in the past decade-and-a-half (what curator Jeffrey Deitch calls “vivid verbal pictures”)—make this title a technicolor testament to the genre as well as a fitting homage to the highest profile street art destination on earth, which has inspired the site’s millions of visitors to explore their own creative spirit.

“Legacy is the mark one makes on the world. A legacy can be made in an unexpected and improbable way, even with something as simple as a spray can and a bold idea,” says Jessica Goldman Srebnick, Wynwood Walls chief curator and daughter of founder Tony Goldman. “My dad envisioned a neighborhood unlike any other on the planet, one that resembled a masterful painting.” With Street Art Icons, Assouline invites you to witness what is the heartbeat of more than a neighborhood and a city, but of the movement, one that Wynwood Walls immeasurably amplified, and arguably, canonized.