Art Capsules

Big Juicy Paintings (and more): "Juicy" features nearly 50 works from the permanent collection, including a number of new acquisitions making their Miami debut. The brawny exhibit is complemented by a handful of works on loan from area collectors. This marks the first time since 2002's "Miami Currents" that MAM has turned over its main exhibition space to its growing collection. Organized by the museum's senior curator, Peter Boswell, the exhibit is primarily devoted to paintings but also features several large-scale sculptural installations. An elated Boswell mentions MAM's collection is growing so rapidly that visitors will encounter a show that is "bigger and juicier than we could have imagined even six months ago." — Carlos Suarez De Jesus Through September 17. 101 W. Flagler St., Miami; 305-375-3000, www.miamiartmuseum.org.

Ever-changing Spectrums: At Art Fusion, any artist willing to pony up some cash can exhibit work regardless of how godawful it is. For $1650 a year, artists clinch fifteen feet of wall space during one of the three-month group exhibits the gallery switches out four times a year. The artistic criterion for inclusion in the gallery's stable seems to be a penchant for cranking out wildly colorful stuff in the $500 to $8000 range. Art Fusion's current exhibit features paintings, drawings, and sculptures by the likes of Jordan Robert, whose canvases are a daffy pastiche of Roy Lichtenstein's and Romero Britto's work, and Jacklyn Laflamme, who depicts a Tastee Freez ice-cream cone rendered in antifreeze-green. Best — or worst — of all, Art Fusion has isolated Alexandra Spyratos's paintings of herding zebras, depicted mostly from behind, in a back room filled with black lights. The sound of jungle birds cawing splits the air in the space, which exudes a Superfly meets National Geographic vibe. — Carlos Suarez De Jesus Through September 28. Art Fusion Galleries, 1 NE 40th St, Miami; 305-573-5730, www.artfusiongallery.com.

I’m So Much Better than You: Magnus Sigurdarson’s installation features four tons of Miami New Times papers interlocked like bricks to form a curving hip-high wall. It houses a DVD player and monitor where the artist is seen performing a puppet show in Xiamen, China. Sigurdarson, who was born in Iceland, filmed the performance during a three-month residency there last autumn. Ironically Sigurdarson’s installation at Javogue’s space, with its imposing mass and volume, evokes a sense of the wall erected to separate China from the rest of the world. The work shares a relevancy with plans for a wall cutting off the United States from its neighbors to the south. — Carlos Suarez De Jesus Ongoing; by appointment only. Emmanuel Javogue Fine Arts, 123 NW 23rd St., Miami; 305-573-3904, www.ejfa.net.

Various Exhibits at the Bass Museum of Art: With a bushel of blue-ribbon shows, the Bass has embarked on perhaps its busiest programming season. For art lovers accustomed to a lull in activity during the dog days of summer, deciding on which shows to see among the museum's expansive menu might be as slippery as handling a hog in a greased-pig contest. But that is bell-clanging news. The Bass is featuring everything from Renaissance altarpieces to embroidered silk robes from the Chinese Imperial court and, not unlike a country fair, boasting a little something for everyone. — Carlos Suarez De Jesus Ongoing. Bass Museum of Art, 2121 Park Ave., Miami Beach; 305-673-7530, www.bassmuseum.org.