WYNWOOD — As you’re earning your way through Wynwood admiring the intricate murals, you may perhaps extremely perfectly operate into artist Michael Addis, who’s 70 yrs younger.
When you see Addis, he’ll most likely have his equipment in hand, immersed in his do the job, carving out his most recent eyesight on road posts and palm trees.
“I come to feel like it is really just me, my artwork, and God,” Addis reported.
Addis is the facial area at the rear of the Wynwood Faces.
There are dozens of faces in the course of the neighborhood, donning various expressions that seize passersby. Utilizing a selfmade putty out of shredded paper, h2o, cleaning soap and ash, Addis turns his vision into fact. But, art failed to begin as a hobby.
“In the starting though, I did it for a hustle,” Addis said.
A hustle to assistance his dependancy to crack cocaine.
Addis struggled with addiction and homelessness for extra than twenty a long time, employing his art as a way to gain income on the streets. The believed of his struggles floods him with thoughts.
“I really don’t even know why I am here,” Addis stated.
But he is, and he credits his passion for artwork for holding him alive.
“My art is God’s given reward to preserve me ideal and to share my have to have to be in this article,” Addis reported.
Back in 2011, Addis entered restoration at Better Way, and he’s been sober ever since.
“You need to have help, and I have it at Improved Way,” he stated.
So, as you are strolling by way of Wynwood and admiring the scenery, choose a minute to verify out the operate of Michael Addis, who identified a way by way of dependancy with artwork.
“I do believe that, that I can do anything…with my artwork,” Addis reported.
