Get Happy

The white picket fence needs a paint job. Gas prices are soaring through the roof. The cheeseball squalor of your living room is in dire need of some cheering up.

No worries. Get a fresh take on a better way of life beginning at 6 p.m. during the free Second Saturday culture crawl this weekend where a pair of Wynwood exhibits offers art as a substitute for Prozac and a suite of photographs offers a vision of a world where everything turns out rosy.

At the Lelia Mordoch Gallery (2300 North Miami Ave., Miami), the French dealer is opening a show titled "Is Art an Antidepressant?" based on her art tome by the same title. The group show features painting and sculptures by stable talent including Daniel Fiorda, Miss-Tic, Keith Long, and Patrick Hughes, among others.

"A work of art is not gratuitous; it's always the expression of an inner need: One either rips one's guts out to create or remains silent. The world is already too full of equivocation," Mordoch concludes. Translation: See art, get happy. Call 786-431-1506 or visit galerieleliamordoch.com.

Leslie Gabaldon ratchets up the feel-good vibe at Dot Fiftyone Gallery (51 NW 36th St., Miami) with her solo "Ink on Roses," where she presents detailed close-ups of poetry and math formulas on petals. Hand-written by the artist, the coded fragments of text on the flowers are a manifestation of Gabaldon's musings on love, passion, and drama of human relationships; they're designed to encourage viewers to read between the lines and reconsider "preconceived paradigms about the meaning of art." It also helps that flowers are pretty. Call 305-573-9994 or visit dotfiftyone.com.
Sat., March 10, 2012