FriendsWithYou is bringing their magic touch to Wynwood Art Fair this year with edible artwork, giant inflatable toys, a parade or two and more.
FriendsWithYou has come a long way since the art collective’s visionary founders, Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, began sewing art toys by hand back in 2002. Now almost a decade old, it’s grown from an unknown Miami art-startup into an internationally recognized brand. Their signature smiling-toy aesthetic is unmistakable, and FriendsWithYou exhibits always bear a distinct dream-pop afterglow, like an excessively-insistent bout of indecipherable deja vu.
Magic, Luck, & Friendship
Despite its superficial simplicity, the art coming out of FriendsWithYou aims to “trigger the buried, neglected urges and yearnings that a seasoned art viewer may not expect to have activated; playfulness, laughter and inquisitiveness, with an end result of feeling connected.”
Each FriendsWithYou piece is intended as “a tool for unstructured free association and interaction,” presumably in the same way that some molecular compounds are considered tools for unstructured free association and interaction. In fact, navigating the floor-to-ceiling array of primary hues and geometric shapes at their office/gallery feels exactly like chasing an endless parade of toys through the cloudy pastels of a chemically-induced dissociative euphoria.
DE LA CRUZ COLLECTION | WYNWOOD ART FAIR
Sponsored by the de La Cruz Collection, FriendsWithYou is doing Wynwood Art Fair big this year, starting with a parade on Friday the 21st and another one on Sunday the 23rd. We caught up with founders Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval to talk about FriendsWithYou’s involvement:
“We are so very excited to participate in this art fair that connects the community while at the same time contributing to a great cause all arranged by the Margulise Collection. All art entities join forces to support the Lotus house, and thats cool. The de la Cruz Collection approached us with an amazing idea. They had collaborated with a confectionary baker to develop prototypes that resembled our art works. It blew us away.
We were honored and thought it would be the best way to share our art in a new way. It’s nice to see Miami join together for something so incredible.Along with our magical baked Goods we will be doing a parade with a giant inflatable sculpture a Rainbow TTT character and some of our inflatable friends that will offer smiles and magic to anyone who beholds these friends!”
– Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III (FriendsWithYou)
Magical baked goods? See you there.