Courtesy Vivian Azalia

"WAKE UP!," reads one of the stickers plastered among a sea of others at last April's STUCK Adhesive Show at the Hangar Gallery. Although the black-on-white sticker is one of the least eccentric in the bunch, it forces the onlooker to pay attention. Which is something Vivian Azalia wants people to start doing, because Miami's sticker movement is growing and the quick stick, mass distribution art form has a lot to say.

This Saturday, STUCK is introducing a new wave of sticker artists that range from local to international and they want the public to join in and slap a few pieces up with them.

See also:
- Wynwood's Sticker Culture Is Making Its Streets Unsafe

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Photo by Deirdra Funcheon

Remember the 2000s, when crafty hipsters expressed themselves by "yarnbombing" trees, signposts, and other public objects? Artists like Olek have elevated the practice of covering strange things in knitted or crocheted yarn to gallery-acceptable heights, sure. But in general? Yarnbombing is, like, sooo ten years ago.

Tapebombing, on the other hand? That's just getting started.

We noticed the "tapebombed" building in the photo above last week in Wynwood. At first, we just thought it was funny, especially with the "bomber's" response to a notice warning that the property is in violation of city code: "AND NOW THAT IT HAS BEEN TAPEBOMBED, EVEN MORE SO!" But an online search for "tapebombing" revealed that this wasn't just a random attack. It's the art of Miami artist Johanna Boccardo.

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Courtesy of the ACLU

To call immigration reform an important issue might be the understatement of the 21st century -- particularly in a city like Miami, where the majority of our population is foreign-born.

Overpaid politicians have done little to deal to effect change -- surprise surprise. But with several amendments currently on the table, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wanted to call attention to the cause. So, they commissioned an eye-catching, interactive mural in Wynwood by street artist Ruben Ubiera dubbed #IamHere.

The mural is a vibrant display of colors and faces -- eight faces of actual people negatively affected by immigration policies. The idea, according to the ACLU, is to show that this is far from a faceless issue, and affects millions of families across the country.

See also:
- 20 Arrested for Pretending to Be Cubans to Get Immigration Benefits
- Pepe Billete on Cinco de Mayo and Immigration: "Pobre Mexicanos, Se La Clavan Sin Vaselina"

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Photo by Bran F. Call

Leshaw House

The problem with hosting an artists' residency aboard a pool noodle in the middle of the ocean is that the sculptors are going to sink and the painters are going to whine about their canvas getting wet.

But if the Stiltsville Trust has its way, the seven remaining houses of the Stiltsville community perched amid Biscayne Bay will become the solution to that problem. The Stiltsville Trust's residency program is one of 66 proposals recently announced as finalists in the Miami Knight Arts Challenge, a list that includes projects by museums, movie houses, an opera company, and even a puppet parade.

See also:
- Miami Knight Arts Challenge Finalists: Wynwood Renovations, a Nigerian Film Festival, O Cinema Expansion
- Knight Arts Challenge Finalist MOCA Hopes to Celebrate "Nollywood"
- Arsht Center Awarded $250,000 to Develop a "Worldwide Destination" in Downtown Miami

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It's no secret that downtown is Miami's burgeoning arts and culture mecca. Instead of the often touted (and often overpriced) Wynwood, our city center is rapidly stepping up to the plate and claiming its crown as a hub for all things art.

In keeping with this evolution, the Adrienne Arsht Center has just been awarded a hefty $250,000 grant from ArtPlace to establish an Office of Neighborhood Development. The new group will lead the development and planning of the surrounding neighborhoods.

The endeavor makes the Arsht Center one of the first performing arts venues in the nation to have an office dedicated to planning and developing its own neighborhood, aka, placemaking.

See also:
- O Cinema to Open Outdoor Movie Theater

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Courtesy of wallpeople.org

Wallpeople participating in Barcelona

Make it, tape it, and gather for a universal celebration of creative expression. That's what Wallpeople wants you to do.

On Saturday, June 1st, artists in 40 cities across the world will simultaneously turn the walls of their city streets into outdoor pop-up galleries. And yes, that includes Miami.

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Courtesy of the Performing Arts Network

Miami can be an unforgiving city. Amidst the swaying palms and the sauntering sex bombs straddling the cracked sidewalks, there are some unpleasant individuals doing unpleasant things. Rapists and robbers, vandals and vagrants, assholes and arsonists. It was one of these fare that destroyed the Performing Arts Network (PAN), setting it on fire just shy of its ten-year anniversary.

In 2009, the nine-year-old PAN -- where scores of this city's dancers of all disciplines would come together and practice their craft, as well as host performances -- was turned from an artistic focal point of the community to a gutted hulk of charred drywall and broken glass. Over the last four years, PAN's creative director, Ilisa Rosal, and her husband, Michael George, who oversees World Arts Village Inc., owner of the plaza where PAN is located, have been working like madmen to bring this once grand establishment back to life. The process has not been an easy one.

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"Thank you for being a friend"? No, Bea Arthur -- thank you.

From All In the Family to Maude to the Golden Girls, the quintessential Miami sitcom, Bea Arthur's 60-year career showed off her many sides. But you probably haven't seen her as Brooklyn artist John Currin pictures her in a painting aptly titled "Bea Arthur Naked" -- relaxed, maybe a little bored, and yes, topless.

Golden Girls? More like golden globes, amirite?

See also:
- Real Life Golden Girls Watch Kim Kardashian's Sex Tape

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Robert Dempster

Miami artist Jessy Nite may be as "Bad As [She] Wanna Be," but that doesn't mean she can't also use her art skills for good. Nite recently launched Nite Writer, her own design, illustration and typographic studio. So we asked her about the sites around town that inspire her creations. Here's her response.

Hunting down great signage is one of my favorite things to do. Everywhere I go, my only vacation photos are of signs, and in a place like Miami, it's a total dream for type fans of any persuasion. But asking me to choose my favorite signs is like asking me to choose my favorite band...I don't even know where to start! Every neighborhood has its own style, and there are pockets of typographic magic all over this city. There's the epic sprawl of Serge's hand painted work in Little Haiti, the neons on Calle Ocho, the funny spanglish hand-written notes in windows across the city, and of course the vintage gems from the early days.

I could drive around for months and never capture them all, so I decided to stick to my home court: The Beach! I skipped the expected Delano, Sagamore and Eden Rock, and tried to grab a variety of my favorites that range from the local spots I see daily on South Beach, to the big Collins hotels I used to dream about while on vacation at my Great Grandma's on 69th Street. So here you go: The Nite Writer Signage Tour of Miami Beach.

See also:
- Jessy Nite is a Bad, Bad Girl at Primary Projects
- Artist Jessy Nite on Porn, Wynwood Lovin', and Why Not To Take Art "So F***ing Seriously"

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Mike Diana's Oilface (2010)

When 18-year-old Mike Diana returned home from Christmas shopping with his mom in 1990, two cops were waiting for him on the lawn of their home in Largo, near Tampa. One officer pulled from his briefcase the teenager's underground comic book Boiled Angel #6. He flipped through the pages, showing his mother the creatures inside: a woman with a pentagram on her chest and stubs for arms, saying, "Fuck you & yer big ass." On the cover, a man with an erection and a bloody knife ripped a mangled fetus from a dead woman's belly.

The policeman then informed him that he was a suspect in the Gainesville student murders.

"At first I felt offended," Diana remembers. "I said, 'What about freedom of speech?'"

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