Paparazzi’s Wet Dream

A few weeks ago, photographers and professional gossips were racing around South Beach in a tizzy, searching fruitlessly for the newly liberated Britney Spears. The media mob easily could have found Brit-Brit, La Lohan, and Paris Hilton on the University of Miami campus at the CAS Gallery (1210 Stanford Dr., Coral Gables) -- thanks to pop-culture artist Layla Copeland. Her latest exhibit, “Hybridizations,” finds inspiration in the sycophantic glow of gossip blogs and the glossy covers of supermarket tabloids.

Copeland’s creations include painstakingly re-created, glittering images of Nicole Richie scarfing down a cupcake, Christina Aguilera doing her best Marilyn Monroe impersonation, and a snow globe featuring Lindsay Lohan in her fire-crotch finery. “I think art is becoming merged with media, in a way. I want people to take a second look at these ephemeral images that we’re presented with so often. We’re putting images out there to our culture, to our children, and we’re not even thinking about it,” Copeland explains.
Fri., Dec. 1, 6-9 p.m.