Art Basel 2011

The Homecoming of CANLOVE’s Fresh Flower Cart.

Even though we were late to the party for submitting any work to Basel this year, we knew we had to do something big. We always wanted to create a mobile flower cart and Art Basel seemed like a perfect place for its debut.

It was a mad dash to coordinate and create it, but with the help and love of some of our friends we were able to complete it. At Chalk, we enlisted the help of our friend Kenny to build the frame. He killed it! Once that was complete, the lovely Denisse Rios and the boys from the Hy.gen.ic helped us skin the cart with cans.

Rob from Escape Campervans outfitted us with a dope van that Neff painted and we loaded her up and set out for the long haul cross-country. We brought all of our materials and tons of cans to cut on the road. We made it relatively quickly, despite some run-ins with the authorities, and a few stops to visit with family.

The amazing Evo Love and Romain were more than gracious for letting us take over their Stash gallery and studio to complete the build. Family forever, right there! Speaking of family, we had a lot come through the studio to help us finish up.

Justin and Jason flew out to Miami that weekend and we hit the streets of Wynwood to see what was good. We were was amazed at the amount of art and people that lined the streets. It was an incredible sight to see and we were right in the thick of it the entire time. We drove our cart around all weekend and while we we’re rolling, we met and chatted with some of the greats like Risk, Json 161, Sam Flores, Martha Cooper, and Ron English. Lister was bouncing around all over, Jersey Joe was steady painting his massive wall of characters, and Sand One from LA kicked it with us for a minute. We also saw our boys Neon, Apex, Estria, Haste, Chor, Pastime, Axis, and Kofie who were all working their asses off busting out some nasty walls.

The weekend flew by and we barely had time to see anything inside. We did get an hour or so in at the convention center and we were quickly reminded of both the beauty and banality of the fine art world. Not that we long for the status of a giant tent, but maybe someday being next to Anish Kapor could be some fun. For us, 2011 was about being on the Magic City’s streets of Wynwood. In 2012, it’s all or nothing.