A ‘Tiger King’ mural popped up in Wynwood. Less than a week later, it changed dramatically
Louis Wolfson III hated it when he first saw it.
A founding partner at Pinnacle Housing Group, he didn’t expect a 16-foot mural of “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” star Joe Exotic to pop on the side his building on April 15.
The Netflix docuseries had become the go-to show of quarantine, yet honoring a man who killed five tigers seemed a bit much to Wolfson. But by the time he started to see the beauty in the portrait, its creator had already begun second guessing himself.
“I don’t necessarily think Joe Exotic is someone that deserves to be memorialized in the community,” muralist Kyle Holbrook recalled of his early creation, which sits on the corner of Northwest 36th Street and Fifth Avenue in Miami.
His subsequent ruminations led to the mural’s current iteration: a 26-foot homage to doctors, nurses and other workers in the heathcare field — featuring a masked Joe Exotic.
“I really wanted to, as an artist, show my gratitude towards the health care workers,” Holbrook said.
“We’re just saying thank you,” Wolfson added.
Wolfson’s initial reaction wasn’t uncommon. One person called the mural a reflection of “peak gentrification” on Twitter. Holbrook says an animal rights activist even emailed him.
In-person, however, Holbrook only saw smiles. Hundreds of people have stopped and snapped pictures as he touched up the initial piece. Yet one family stood out.
“They came all the way form Homestead, just to come to get pictures,” Holbrook said. “They said they hadn’t left the house in a week.”
Those moments are part of the reason Holbrook created it. “Tiger King” provided the country with a much needed distraction, he says, as the coronavirus pandemic grew worse. He wanted his mural to do the same thing. And, for the most part, it did. considering the buzz created by CBS4 and Channel 10. That fanfare, which Wolfson witnessed firsthand on Saturday, actually spawned his initial admiration of the work.
“This mural was meant to inspire and pick up the neighborhood,” Wolfson said. “I watched a steady flow of people coming up and taking their picture in front of the Tiger King.”
With Joe Exotic being the work’s main draw, Holbrook didn’t want to completely erase him. Giving the former zookeeper a mask, he says, linked Exotic’s ascension in popular culture to the diligence of those fighting the virus.
Or, put differently, the hilarity of an Oklahoman does have some significance in these uncertain times — just not more than the heroes saving countless lives on a daily basis.
“Hopefully people will get them both,” Holbrook concluded, “because they’re both important.”
