Despite living in South Florida for most of my life, I’d never been to the Wynwood Art District before this trip.  Amelie took me down there earlier this week because she thought I would enjoy it, and she was right.

Wynwood is a neighborhood in Miami, a little bit north of downtown Miami.  The Wynwood art district contains over seventy galleries, five museums, three collections, seven art complexes, twelve art studios and five art fairs.  There are monthly art walks, and more.

The really cool thing about Wynwood, though, is the walls.  The outer walls of the buildings throughout Wynwood are painted by artists.  On a regular basis, the walls are white-washed, and the cycle of art continues.

This next wall was done by Sheperd Fairey, the guy who created the Obama HOPE poster and some other well known art memes.

Some of the art is colorful.

Some of it is really colorful.  This one is my favorite from the area.  I love how the paint “bleeds” onto the sidewalk and over the rocks in front of it.

I can’t look at this one without squealing, “Yellow pig!”

This piece isn’t a painting-  the face is carved into the wall.  The picture that follows is a close-up of the eye.

The largest concentration of artsy walls is guarded by flat tin alien dudes.

The design on this one is pretty nifty.

I walked past this three times without noticing the woman’s genitalia- I was too focused on tthe butterflies in the upper right corner.  It wasn’t until I looked at the picture on my computer that I saw the other bits.

On this piece, the very first thing I noticed was the key in the bottom-most hand.  I still wonder what it opens.

This cafe is fronted by very colorful apparitions that look like they’re trying to escape.  The little red one furthest to the left looks like he’s making it.

It took me .0003 seconds to notice (and laugh at) the little yellow dude’s penis, because I am apparently ten years old.

I think an octopus would make an amazing plumber.

I didn’t spot the kitty right away when I walked by this one.  There are actually several cats hiding on this wall, and I didn’t notice any of them until Amelie pointed them out to me.

The “Road Trip” painting is across the street from Panther Coffee, a pretty great place to stop for some java or tea.

Also across the street from Panther Coffee:  Someone hung this little guy up on the overhead lines.

Ah, Miami life.  A man walks his two little dogs.  I dig the tiny sweater on the second dog.

When I was growing up, ice cream trucks would roam the neighborhoods playing a jingly version of “The Entertainer”  and enticing us to eat sugary confections.  In these modern times, the ice cream and the jingly musical sound are the same, but the trucks have been replaced by pedal power.

Even on the side streets, Wynwood has some amazing work.  The clouds on this explosion of color are fantastic.

There’s a fine, fine line between art and graffiti.  I’m not entirely sure which side of that line this wall occupies.

As we left, the clouds started to get a little bit ominous.  This has the added bonus of making this last photo look amazing.

Does your city have a dedicated art district?