Audio By Carbonatix
Dystopias — they’re so hot right now. From The Hunger Games to The Road and from Divergent to The Walking Dead, postapocalyptic worlds of the imagination are wildly popular with consumers of culture who enjoy spending time in them.
So the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum (10975 SW 17th St., Miami) is right on trend with its latest exhibit, Leonel Matheu’s “Crossroads of the Dystopia.” It’s the first major survey exhibition for Matheu, a Cuban-born artist who settled in Miami in 1992 before relocating to Los Angeles. For more than 20 years, Matheu has explored themes of dreams, technology, and spirituality, as well as a variety of mediums — pencil drawings, oil on canvas, video, and multimedia installations.
Still, says curator Janet Batet, Matheu’s varied work makes for a cohesive collection. “If a single symbol could summarize the iconic work of Leonel Matheu, it would be the enigmatic head — a sort of dome — that appears as a constant throughout his work,” Batet explains. “It serves as a self-portrait and collective portrayal of a nation marked by diaspora and dystopia.”
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: July 13. Continues through Oct. 19, 2014
