Primary Flight 2010_2 from ENDmedia on Vimeo.

Usually when we pal around with those in the event or send out requests for images afterwards, there is positive energy that seems to pour out of the event.

Not last year …

We mailed to over a dozen artists and there wasn’t one who had a positive or interesting thing to say about the event. Several said they were so disgusted they would prefer not to comment.

But … forget the people the event is about – the ones who put their love into it …

Levey goes on explaining: “They might be pissed off or feel mistreated, but the event will surely get bigger for a year or two anyway. Organizers will have a chance to sort their growing pains and Wynwood residents will probably be satisfied with their gifts. Its just funny what lies things often become when they are successful.

“These lies result in fat pockets, million dollar key chains and a new set of historians who haven’t a clue what they’re talking about.

“Exit through the Giftshop indeed – sad and beautiful, but who cares? Street art is so cool. We guess that’s why in Primary Flight 3 Mountain Dew was branded all over the event.”

But we hope that bygones will be bygones and want to focus on the positive side and possibilities Primary Flight has to offer.

Part of last years grow was the Primary Projects space in the Miami Design District. Slated to coincide with Second Saturday Art Walk from March 12 to April, 2011, their upcoming show Para Mi Gente is Primary Flight’s sophomore exhibition at its 4,500-square-foot Primary Projects space. The exhibit is free and open to the public, and will be on view through April 2011.

They say: “Primary Flight interprets the designs and concepts of more than 50 local and international artists in Para Mi Gente, an exhibition inspired by the Chicha poster art of Peru. Translated as “for the people,” Para Mi Gente merges traditional Peruvian propaganda, contemporary art and graphic-driven installations. Participating artists such as Shepard Fairey, Tristan Eaton and gallerist Fred Snitzer have provided Primary Flight with vector images that will be cut into stencils and collaged together to generate one, fluid Chicha-style piece. This show is co-curated by Books IIII Bischof, Typoe and Chris Oh.

“The Chicha poster art movement has largely been attributed to the Urcuhuaranga family in Lima, Peru. Unable to afford the cost of printing their own posters to promote local Chicha-music bands, father and sons conceived a homegrown press as a do-it-yourself solution. Vibrant embroideries and Huanca textiles native to the Andean region inspired their fluorescent palette, while distorted fonts and logos emerged to fit increasingly more information onto the posters.



“The visual output of Chicha art resembles a burst of luminescent lettering, mismatched in size, style and proportion – a vibrant puzzle of information. Since its inception in the 1990’s, the genre has grown exponentially to reflect popular culture as a leading marketing tool publicizing the now prevalent Cumbia music scene.”

“Chicha is one of the most basic yet effective propaganda styles and has emerged as an art form in its own right,” said Books Bischof, principal of Primary Flight / Primary Projects. “So much of our culture involves integrating text and altering typography to fit into our overall brand aesthetic. Para Mi Gente allows us to take control of our mass marketed environment while we work with tools provided by contemporary artists.”

Para Mi Gente will be an installation of hundreds of artist-designed logos, texts and icons, collectively arranged and curated in the Chicha aesthetic. As the street mural movement rapidly evolves in Miami, Primary Flight art collective looks toward grassroots Peruvian propaganda to inspire its latest fine arts exhibit.


(Creative Review cover by Tristan Manco)

While Harlan and Abner killed it at Scope, I took a day to explore the rest of the art happenings. (Well, a few of them as it was pretty intense.) We had a great time dining al fresco with our buddies Richard and Dan of Mauger Modern, who also killed it at Scope with their “Noses and Nudes” booth, featuring Manolo Chretien’s circular photos of plane noses and Jeff Robb’s incredibly sexy/haunting nude lenticulars. We stumbled upon them at the beach just as they were taking this photo- I love it!

We had a great time at the Emmanuel Perrotin opening which seemed like an outdoor wedding. We sat at round tables, sipped champagne, and I tried to have a dance off with Kris Kuksi, who was showing with Joshua Liner Gallery. Their booth at Scope was solid, like a mini version of the New York gallery, also showing Tony Curanaj and Ian Francis, in addition to a giant Dennis McNett sculpture that greeted visitors.

We dined (and were plied with whiskey) daily on Brooklyn’s Roberta’s food, which had an inside café and an outdoor BBQ and bar. ReBaroque sound frames, who I will be working with in 2011, represented via Anonymous Gallery, and Scope visitors were plugging in their iPods to the soundframe and jamming in the front of the fair. Invisible Heroes wowed visitors (and me) with their Flying Saucer pieces- how’d they do that??

Aside from countless sandwiches as La Sandwicherie (how I miss thee) and cheap drinks at The Deuce, we checked out the Basel Vernissage, where we caught up with Camille Rose Garcia, who had pieces up with Michael Kohn Gallery! Congrats!

As we mentioned before, lots of our friends were busy with Primary Flight. Will Barras and London Police had a giant mural, as well as Remed, Remy, Lister and a zillion other amazing artists. Speaking of Lister, I stopped by his pop up, I really dug the bearded head sculptures that sat on the floor. For some reason there was a Hello Kitty merch truck parked outside….I love Hello Kitty (former raver guilt) so I was happy with it.

It seemed a lot of galleries were trying pop ups this year, which sounds fun but just creates even more places to have to go to. A group even formed a new “fair”- well more like an exhibition called SEVEN and included Bravin Lee, Pierogi, PPOW and others. Honestly, I wasn’t really into the location for SEVEN. It felt too much like an empty building with art put up in it. I know that is precisely what it was, but a good fair/museum/exhibition uses the space in a way that the visitor doesn’t notice, or the art supercedes it. Anyway, admittedly I didn’t stay long (I was just too arted out for the the salon style hanging), but it was an interesting idea.

The last day I checked out the Aqua Fair, which went back to its roots and was just a hotel fair (last year and the year before they were in the Wynwood District), with highlights from 339 Gallery, a photography gallery in Philadelphia which occupies an old soda fountain I used to frequent for chocolate Cokes (I swear they are good) a few years back. Also really enjoyed these sewn pieces all made of thread at LA’s Art Slant room.

The parties were the usual grandeur- Scope’s party was all the rage, with the liquor flowing, bands playing, and girls swinging on giant swings all night. Shepard Fairey DJed the Fountain fair party, where G Love and Special Sauce also played- now that was a blast from 1996! Metric played on the beach for Art Basel, and Mr. Brainwash had a rager at his pop up. There is always too many things to do.

The last day was for business and the beach, but sadly was too cold, so I spent the last day sitting outside at the Standard with the Maugers and then possibly the most fun- bowling, where one game I bowled a 28. No lie. I’m awesome.
Thank you Miami for all the success, booze, friends, stories, and sandwiches. We’ll see you next December, and not a moment before.