Sup internet? It’s Lamour Supreme here, swaggerjackin’ a Bloglin account to talk about a certain art fair. On a last minute whim I decided to break my Art Basel cherry and took a trip down to Miami on the suggestion of Greg Mishka. Scrambling to make last minute travel plans, I found out that I would be staying in one room of 10 guys. JYRU from Army of Snipers graciously offered me accommodations, but I just didn’t feel like sleeping in the trenches the first time around.

I sent out some SOS signals on my layover to Miami hoping someone else was going to offer me the same hospitality with fewer bros in the room. Luckily my friend Buff Monster got back to me with a place to stay. The trip was starting to look up. As soon as I got into Miami, I took a cab straight into the Wywood district to head over to the Secret Wars battle which was taking place at the Underbelly Project. The Secret Wars are an event Terri from Monorex holds. They’re battles which are almost like an art Fight Club.

Three man teams have 90 minutes to paint a 16′ x 8′ wall. This battle included Tristan Eaton‘s USA team including Buff Monster and Kano vs. the Europeans headed by Chaz of the London Police. The Europeans are the World Champs, so they were the favorites in this battle.  They came out with heavy artillery early and it didn’t look good for the Americans. They started out with imagery of a giant Monster Truck and pigs reading a bible; they hit the Americans below the belt right off the bat. However you can always count on Americans to come back from behind just like in WWII. Just ask the Germans.

Tristan’s team rallied the troops to make their wall a cohesive masterpiece. In the end, the decision was up to two judges plus a crowd decision. The first judge decided in favor of the Europeans. The crowd then unanimously sided with the home team. fanatical chants of “U.S.A!” were abound. The final decision fell on the shoulders of the second judge. Me. The CNN cameras were there filming Tristan and the pressure was on. I gave it to the home team because I honestly felt like they pulled it together so well in the end. The Euros had a posse of supporters and I endured calls of corruption. All I know is that I want to go up against Chaz and his team myself because they truly were a force to be reckoned with.

This was my first time experiencing Secret Wars and I have to say I’m hooked.  It’s a great event with a lot of intense creative energy mixed in with just having a good time. After the Secret Wars I was amped about being in Miami and the crazy dosage of art I had already got.  I headed over to Art Whino where I was scheduled to paint an exterior wall to drop my paints off. I couldn’t sleep and Aaron, AKA Angry Woebots, was already getting down inside the gallery so I joined his and got to work. A few hours later, Cyco Simon was coming at you. With only a couple hours of sleep I headed out with Buff Monster and Jack Muramatsu, who writes for Daily DuJour and Vinyl Pulse.

We went to check out the art fair Scope in the Wynwood District.  It was pretty overwhelming seeing so much street art being showcased in high profile galleries.  It made me humbled to see so much amazing work being done on that scale.  Buff Monster wanted to go visit the Corey Helford Gallery booth, where they were selling his pieces. He was greeted by a red dot next to his painting, which was no surprise as his work is always in demand.  We headed back to Art Whino and brainstormed a collaborative painting on the exterior wall.  We quickly sketched out a rough idea and figured we would start early the next day.

Hit the jump for more plus a full gallery!

I really can’t remember the rest of the night.  I do remember having a Cuban hot dog which took a long time to prepare.  All I know is that it was probably the best hot dog I ever had. I remember it tasting of pineapple, garlic, and crushed potato chips. With another night of only a couple of hours of sleep, me and Buff Monster got to work on the wall.  Buff wanted to make his signature ice cream cone, but Mishka and Lamour inspired.  We only had a couple of hours to knock it out since we had a signing later that afternoon.  The piece started coming together effortlessly.  It seems me and Buff paint cohesively pretty well, and I think our wall proved that considering it was done in only a couple of hours.

After cleaning ourselves up a bit, we rushed over to Caffeina which was holding Tristan’s 3D book signing.  We quickly took our spots and started drawing in 3d with the likes of Ron English, Mark Dean Veca, Kano, Sket, Haze, and more.  I wasn’t officially in the book but Mishka sent me an emissary to sign for them seeing as me and the company are an irreversible binomial at this point.  It was honor sitting at this table just having a good time drawing and meeting fans.  Our hands were starting to fall off a few hours into the night as Tristan sold so many books. We ended up at some castle party later that night getting drunk thanks to a big bottle of Sailor Jerry rum which I copiously poured into my cans of Pabst.  It was pretty surreal experience dancing to D&B with Anthony Lister and Shark Toof, discussing the finer points of fine beer with Tim Biskup and just “bro”-ing down with every one. See you at Basel 2012.

- Whole Milk