*On Site* Multiversal Group Art Show

This past weekend, as part of Miami's Art Basel, Mike Franco of Wizard Sleeve Toys and friends hijacked an American Legion building and turned it into a colossal art event. The show was called Multiversal, and that it was: Not counting hallways, entryways and corridors, the event featured 4 rooms. I barely moved from the first room where toy art by Sket-One, Mike Slobot, Bob Conge, Jeremiah Ketner, Rsin, Ian Ziobrowski, Lana Crooks, Josh F+ Pearce, Jon Burgerman x Felt Mistress and our own SpankyStokes dominated the scene. An entire wall of the room was covered inch by inch with art, like 2D pieces by kaNO, 3D work by Nakanari and inspiring canvasses by emerging artists we're likely to see grace the pages of Hi-Fructose...

The second room was a bit of a blur. I'm pretty sure I saw a couple cool pieces by local Helena Garcia among some of the graff canvases and figurative illustrations. Room 3 featured a full bar and the live painting duet of Sket-One and kaNO. If you stopped to watch the artists do their thing, your eyes might have been distracted by the transparent wall into Room 4 where a handful of topless women and men were having their bodies adorned with paint...

Multiversal featured the full work of the Feminality show, plus a whole bunch more. There was a lot going on here. You could look at it on the whole as being a tad over the top (girls were dancing with silks in the entryway) or exactly the kind of atmosphere that was needed to contrast the precise and precious pretentiousness of some of the other Art Basel affairs. Precious, this was not. For better or for worse, emerging and established artists shared space on table-cloth covered card tables, and canvases competed for eyes with black and white portraits of American Legion heroes. Most people felt this was a nice antidote to the art scenesters they'd been encountering throughout the day. I even witnessed Mr. Franco drop the price of a piece so substantially as to entirely negate his commission when a fan couldn't afford the asking amount. When's the last time you saw that happen in a proper gallery?

Unfortunately, the huge undertaking had to be taken down Sunday, so all that exists of the awesome feat are pictures, memories and no doubt A TON of sweat equity. Multiversal 2? Be sure to CLICK THROUGH for a full photo slide show from the whole event!