Pretty Is

As pretty does

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More About

• Carol Jazzar
• Carlos Suarez de Jesus
• Monique Leyton
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Visual Arts

SAT 5/14Sick of SoBe's oiled silicone dunes and farcical physical artifice, French curator Carol Jazzar has tackled the local cyborg-in-thongs set, presenting "Beauty or Not," a group show delving into conventions of beauty. "I wanted to address contemporary issues of beauty because South Beach seems like such a fantasyland, a fake landscape where everyone is obsessed with remaining young forever," says Jazzar. "It's crazy!" Jazzar has brought together several artists working in diverse media for a show that promises to be grotesque, ribald, and sarcastic. The exhibit opens tonight from 7:00 to 10:00 at the Octopus Building (169 NW 36th St., Miami) and runs through May 31.

Monique Leyton's digital prints take a vicious stab at surgical quick fixes and are hilarious DIY guides on self-transformation. In one multipaneled work, some lug has sliced open his midriff and is inserting a water-filled Ziploc bag in the incision, perhaps hoping to become a metrosexual marsupial.

The artistic duo Gismo pokes fun at obesity and what's considered crude in Miami. In one photo a Spandex-clad tart, looking like three pounds of sausage in a one-pound bag, flattens a lawn chair. And in a video work Lou Ann Colodny captures the lunacy of a model having her gob mutilated in exchange for a platypus snout. Oh, vanity, what price thy folly! Call 305-490-6906, or visit www.cjazzart.com. --Carlos Suarez de Jesus

In da Gallery

Go, Etra, it's yo birthday

THUR 5/12Crowing "we gon' party and sip Bacardi like it's yo birthday," rapper 50 Cent may have contributed the perfect party anthem to Miami's art scene, where cocktails and gallery openings combine for a potent cultural brew. Celebrating its first anniversary tonight, Etra Fine Art (56 NE 40th St., Miami) is uncorking the open bar to revelers during a birthday bash welcoming three new artists to its stable. Cecile Comblen, Richard Roblin, and Marco Otero bring fresh spirits to the mix at Etra, which exhibits newcomers alongside established masters like Tamayo, Paladino, Toledo, and Morales, whose work anchors the gallery's collection. "We are enthusiastic about being part of all of this," say owners Alicia Restrepo and Stefano Campanini. Hedonists arise! Booze flows from 7:00 to 10:00. Call 305-438-4383. --Carlos Suarez de Jesus