Wallace hosted the Close Knit Gallery's first-ever exhibition inside Salaam Remi's MuseZeum in Wynwood. Upon entering CJ's space, artist Reyna Noriega greeted the room with colorful paintings that stay true to the close-knit theme. One of her paintings of a woman has two long, brown pieces of yarn that descend from the top of her scalp and are meticulously braided into the canvas. Wallace's massive collection of black-and-white photos hung right next to Noriega's work.

The wall featured an array of intimate snapshots from Wallace's everyday life with family and friends. One photo shows him standing with his superstar mother followed by another image of him hugging his grandmother, Voletta Wallace, in front of her house. Below the photo of Biggie's mom is a candle featuring an image of the late DJ Clark Kent and two balls of yarn on both sides. Wallace features several photos of his father's trusted DJ that he took over the years, yet this particular image was special to him. Wallace added black-and-red angel wings and a halo to Kent's photo to create a rare t-shirt he hung directly above the massive yarn installation. He also sold a limited amount of the shirts.

A collection of remarkable paintings by Stephanie Amon to the left of Wallace's photos. The talented artist displayed her four jaw-dropping paintings of André 3000, Kendrick Lamar, the late Nipsey Hussle, and world-renowned artist Takashi Murakami. On the other side of the room, versatile artist Gianni Lee did a live painting throughout the night. Wallace and his team plan to curate more events like this in the future as they continue to build their community.

"I think 2025 is going to be a really cool space to take Close Knit Studio and use it as a vehicle in different arenas," Heather says. "Right now it's a space focusing on the photos, but CJ's very multifaceted, so it's panel conversations, it's close-knit dinners. It's a lot of things. We're building a community and it's a space where we want to start growing in that way."

We caught up with CJ Wallace after the event to learn everything about his plans for the Close Knit Gallery. Scroll below to see the full conversation.

Mojo in the Morning

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