Friends With You’s Skywalkers Blimp Parade invokes childlike fantasies. Photo courtesy of Friends With You

Miami-based artist duo Friends With You is running at lightning speed. They use familiar information systems — manga-inspired cartoons, toys and interactive play settings — to spread their message. The artists, Sam Borkson and Tury Sandoval, present a mysterious vision of life as a shared adventure in their work, which grows from a shamanic core; aptly responds to global plight; and invokes the pathos of interpersonal action. By utilizing the ways that contemporary audiences are conditioned to receive information, Friends With You hopes to penetrate the spirit and promote harmony among individual, social and cosmic levels. In chatting with Friends With You and approaching a realm of childlike fantasy, it’s easy to see that, at its core, their art promotes positivity and heart — universally needed forces that often seem scarce in contemporary life. Here’s what they had to say:

Where can we find Friends With You during Art Basel?

We will be all over the place. Having fun and adventures, wherever you find us will be a good time for sure. First place to see us will be in the Miami Herald, where we will be spreading our art to everyone in reach of the newspaper through a project curated by Daniel Arsham. This is an amazing way to be spreading our art to everyone so keep your eyes peeled for our piece titled Rainbow Bright. If you are looking for actual work, we have many pieces consigned with Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, and toys and more at Genius Jones.

What are you especially excited about doing?

We have so many wonderful projects coming that are taking all of our time and energy, planning new playgrounds and a super-secret project that will take a few more years but will be the catalyst to teach new babies of the world a special blend of magic, love and friendship. In the near future, we expect to bring many magnificent art events to complement our new line of enchanting wishing toys aptly called Wish Come True, which is the next generation of Weeble Wobbles.

Tell us about the new characters!

There are too many to talk about right now because they are being created right this moment — from our new toy line to art pieces and more.

From where do you draw inspiration?

From the world and the information system, as well as the old religions and the collective consciousness. We draw cues from what is already in our hearts and minds since the beginning of time and present them in a way that each person can use to better their lives. We love a world spirituality that is built for everyone and look at that in the most simple and fun way.

What’s your message?

Love, self-empowerment, magic, luck and friendship. It’s about connecting to the most basic truths inside us all and sharing these ideas to make this world better and better. We are using the contemporary machine to help us send this message every way possible from TV to products and mystical experiences that will affect your life.

How do you harness these magical powers?

By believing in them!

What’s the secret to the success of your artistic collaboration?

I think that it is being very open to something bigger than yourself, to meet creative challenges with the idea that you are searching for the best solution in impacting people and making changes. Once you begin to escape from your ego, you can really touch more and more people with the outcome.

Give us the juicy scoop on your future projects….

To bridge the gap of information to reach everyone and provide us all with magical adventures and experiences to make lives better. Share love with everyone and really make a responsible impact in a variety of ways. As for each specific project, well, you will just have to wait to play, but we promise lots of fun!

For more information about Friends With You, visit www.friendswithyou.