Coagulated Canvas

Blood, paint, and hairs

SAT 1/8

Anthony Spinello is trying to make a name for his handsome little Wynwood Arts District digs, Liquid Blue Gallery (3438 N. Miami Ave.), so he wants to feature artists who think outside the palette to attract thrill-seeking art crowds. “Organic” is a two-person exhibition featuring artists who use organic matter as the primary media for their work. New Yorker Jordan Eagles used blood in his series, “Body-Spirit Connection.” Combined with acrylics, resin, metallic powders, and cheesecloth, the blood adopts striking textures and hues which are safely preserved on Plexiglas. Eagles says he acquires blood from a slaughterhouse to show the “connection between … the flesh and the spirit.” Eagles believes that “creating beauty using the life force of something that has … died, is in essence a rebirth.” Agustina Woodgate incorporates hair into her feminist series “Identity-Diversity” as a means of exploring the social abuse a woman can suffer in her search for acceptance. The opening reception is tonight from 7:00 to midnight. Call 305-571-9123 or visit www.liquidbluegallery.com. — Lyssa Oberkreser

Alpha Jaws

Scary sea creature letters

SAT 1/8

Back in the day, teaching children the alphabet was … well, as easy as A, B, C. “A is for apple, B is for boy,” mothers cooed in gentle voices. That may have worked when you were little, but for today’s youth, a generation raised on Nickelodeon and video games, a more action-packed version might be in order. Enter “Sharkabet: A Sea of Sharks from A to Z,” a collection of Ray Troll’s colorful illustrations of these undersea beasts. This Alaskan marine artist makes paleontology and ichthyology visually stunning and comprehensible to the science-deficient. Troll researched more than 400 varieties of sharks, some still surviving in today’s polluted oceans, and others dating back to prehistoric times. From the angel to the zebra shark, see them all at the Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium, 3280 S. Miami Ave. through May 5. Call 305-646-4289 or visit www.miamisci.org. — Patrice Elizabeth Grell Yursik

Nothing’s Shocking

FRI 1/7

The Persian-born artist Howtan doesn’t aim to please the eye. His goal is to scandalize and provoke a reaction. His works are most often striking, illuminated photographs of nudes. Howtan depicts women in vulnerable positions: pregnant, bleeding, cutting themselves in dark, delicate places; painted women sprawled across rumpled beds. His most famous piece, “Scream of War,” depicts a naked, kneeling woman, teeth bared in either a snarl or a shriek, her face and body drenched in candy-red blood. His latest exhibition, “Light on Hell & Paradise,” is sure to stir controversy amongst sedate art-lovers with its graphic, adults-only interpretations of women’s suffering. See Howtan’s large-scale transparencies at ARTSPACE/Virginia Miller Galleries, 169 Madeira Ave., Coral Gables, through February 28. Call 305-444-4493 or visit www.virginiamiller.com. — Patrice Elizabeth Grell Yursik