Miami, Florida – The media’s love/hate relationship with ABOVE‘s recent work continues to grow as reporters — local, national and international — pick up the story and spread awareness.

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Photo via La Informacion

The news of ABOVE‘s 255 by 11 feet Wynwood mural has reached all the way to Madrid (read the full article on the huge Spanish news blog LaInformacion.com) and to India, mentioned in the India Times! Just today the artwork provoked an angry post in the blog Exposing the Media, a sarcastic op-ed on Human Events (a site “leading Conservative media since 1944″) and a more thoughtful post by Liberty Sentry asking if ABOVE’s artistic expression fits in with OWS’s call for nonviolent protests. The responses to the mural are having a snowball effect as more and more people see ABOVE’s handiwork, check back often and we will keep you posted on the continuing developments. ABOVE, himself, is currently in LA for 48 hours, but you can expect more amazing Miami projects from him coming soon.

The bright and bold mural is accomplishing exactly what ABOVE set out to do- make people talk about Occupy Wall Street. The work has spurred mentions in sites as varied as From the Trenches World Report and Break the Matrix to National news site Fox News, the latter of which was posted under the title “This is Not Art…This is Sick.” The full range of both positive and negative opinions is really something to see, and art that can elicit such strong responses must be striking a chord in the public. The post on Fox News has been up for two days and already has 358 votes on whether the content is offensive or not, add yours in too and see how the number grows!

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The front page of UK Yahoo News displays ABOVE‘s recently finished work, proclaiming “Give A Wall Street Banker Enough Rope and He Will Hang Himself” painted along a huge wall spanning the length of a cityblock!  The lucky inhabitants of South Florida get see the mural while driving on the I-95,  but we love to see these images traveling so fast so people all around the nation can see them too!

Michael Cuff for Warholian, pays a visit to Casey Gray‘s studio and reviews his current show “Style of Eye“.

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ABOVE, and the Wall Street wall he has painted along the I-95 of Wynwood, has made it into the national news. CBS ran the feature, speaking with passersby, as well as asking ABOVE some questions on the message and how he feels about the strong reactions it has stirred up. View the clip ad-free here.

ABOVE also answers questions on the 255 foot mural in an interview with the South Florida Business Journal, where Ashley D. Torres reports “Over the past few years, Above has strived to make his artwork more political.
“I think it’s my duty as a street artist to make artwork that can communicate with the public,” he said Thursday.” A slideshow of photos accompanied the interview, see a selection of them after the jump! Read more »

ABOVE‘s Banker wall is gaining a lot of attention, and many people seem to have something to say about it. This comes as no surprise since the wall stretches along the Northbound I-95, catching thousands of drivers’ eyes. Meghan Keneally wrote an article for London and USA newspapers (available online at Dailymail) asking “Is this taking the protests too far?” in reference to the mannequin-dressed-as-banker hung from his neck above the wall.

From ABOVE:
“I think it has really gone too far, but then again I think it’s my retaliation to how far Wall St, has gotten in general. It is shocking to me when I look at these numbers when I see that one per cent of the people have all of the money.”

ABOVE will be displaying his first U.S. solo show with White Walls during the upcoming SCOPE art fair, and has more projects planned for Miami, leading up to the SCOPE debut. Read the full article here, and take a glance at the comments section for the extremely varied responses from the public.

More Photos After the Jump! Read more »

White Walls is featured in the Gallery Highlights section of Bluecanvas Magazine, Issue #10. Below is a peek at the great write up — be sure to pick up a copy today!

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Above’s Wynwood mural, stretching down the I-95, is the latest example of the bold word play the prolific artist is known for. Above finished painting last week, solving the mystery of just what was being spelled out, resulting in a message made powerful by the Occupy Wallstreet movement and related protests: Give A Banker Enough Rope And He Will Hang Himself. It was Above’s finishing touch- a mannequin wearing a suit, face covered by a sack, hung by a noose- that garnered the attention of Miami New Times, whose article you can read here, appropriately placed in the ‘Occupy Miami’ category. “We asked Above to send us a photo as soon as the suicidal fat cat was hung. We’re guessing there’s going to be some 911 calls from the highway and some municipal employee will be climbing a ladder up there with scissors some time this afternoon.” states reporter Gus-Garcia Roberts, and we’re guessing he’s right.

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Miami certainly seems to have been living up to it’s reputation of a city that’s always in motion, with sunny days switching to tropical storms in an instant & the top nightlife destinations switching on the regular, so it makes sense that news travels just as quickly! ABOVE on how fast word of his painting reached the head of the police station:

It’s a very small world here in Miami. Last week when I got rolled up by 3 cops asking if I had permission to paint this wall it was because the police Lieutenant got an anonymous call about someone painting a wall in the area. Yesterday the Lieutenant and another cop stopped by to see how the wall was going. The Lieutenant said he and some other officers were talking about the message and wall and all really enjoyed watching it progress. The Lieutenant was super chill and social as we swapped stories of being arrested and arresting people. He had a funny story about an arrest that is too long to talk about here but point being he was cool with everything.It’s good to know the Lieutenant on a first name basis and later this month when I inevitably get rolled by the police again while painting illegally somewhere I could swing my connection with the Lieutenant and hopefully keep the handcuffs off me….hopefully?! As they say “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.”

More After the Jump! Read more »