Enrique Campuzano: During a moment of identity crisis, modern art created "appropriation," the depiction of a well-known image in a different visual context -- as distinguished from outright plagiarism. This is what Enrique Campuzano does with one of the giants of art history: Diego Velazquez. He's not the first to cite the Spanish genius, but Campuzano's obsession surpasses anything recent. He actually has the technique and a sense of the theatrical to twist Velazquez a bit. I understand this game of association: Stay behind the giant and no matter how faint the appropriator's touch, it will always look bigger than it would otherwise. Yet I wonder about the value of having to paraphrase a giant so literally in order to make a point. -- AT Through March 31. The Americas Collection, 2440 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables. 305-446-5578.
Juan Lecuona: Lecuona's art revisits decadence, but this being the 21st Century, he brings contemporary thought to his work. The result is a more detached treat. At the crossroads of Maupassant's tales and Lucienne Day's fabrics, Lecuona elaborates an art-of-the-boudoir, patternlike painting, exploring visual designs to evoke physical tickling and mental titillations. His inventions of keen coloring with refined simplicity bring to mind silk tapestry wall hangings or ribbon motifs achieved as delicate corporeal abstractions in pale blues, gold, rose, and lilac. Similar subjects drove nineteenth-century "cultivated man" to create ideals of polished style -- much out of synch with our times. Through March 31. Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, 3080 SW 38th Ct., Coral Gables. 305-774-5969.
Francisco Luna: Are we really worse off because of globalization? Maybe it doesn't matter one way or the other; people believe what they want to believe. Argentinean Francisco Luna's No Duermas (Don't Fall Asleep) takes up the issue by steering a midcourse between Frankfurt-theory pessimism and the Zen masters' self-caution. He denounces corporate power while being frank about our surrendering to its seduction. The work is part painting, part logo, part ad, and part flat sculpture. Sleek corporate messages embedded in surfaces darkened by smudges and scribbles suggest our numbing to the oxidization of our environment. What is real and what's imagined? Look for Luna's words of caution on what the future may hold: a large landscape painting on metal, something out of William Gibson's Neuromancer. Will that be our "zone of hope"? Through March 31. Praxis International Art, 2960 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables. 305-443-9700.
Francesco Scavullo: A retrospective of the work of fashion icon Francesco Scavullo, who died in January. The dean of the A-list lensmen, Scavullo's subjects ran the gamut of the jet-set glitterati. Shots of Mick Jagger in silver booty shorts, a heavily made-up Louise Nevelson as Zorro in drag, and a clueless Andy Warhol posing with model Gail Cook. -- CSJ Through March 18. ART+, Village of Merrick Park, 358 San Lorenzo Ave. #3135, Coral Gables. 786-497-1111.
10 Floridians: This is more than just another exhibit. And Miami Art Central (MAC) is more than just another exhibition space. Venezuelan philanthropist Ella Fontanals Cisneros came up with the idea for the space (designed by architect Alessandro Fiorentino), and wunderkind Manuel Gonzalez (MAC's artistic director) came up with the idea for MAC's debut: Have nine well-known curators select and write about ten promising South Florida artists. The show is a success because it brings together some of Miami's best -- Mark Handforth, Dara Friedman, Adler Guerrier, Luis Gispert, José Bedia, Jacin Giordano, Glexis Novoa, Gean Moreno, Robert Chambers, and Sergio Vega. -- AT Through March 28. Miami Art Central, 5960 Red Rd., South Miami. 305-455-3333.
Zumblick and Ramirez: Thais Zumblick's arresting self-portraits seem to straddle Georges Bataille's hinterland between masochistic acceptance and sadistic provocation with deadpan panache. "Series 9490.t" refers to the color code for purple and maybe for a mixture of black and blue. Also at Kessler: Was it Marx who said, "Man is born barefoot but everywhere he is in a pair of Nikes?" Painter Ramiro Ramirez combines a Flemish economy of space with hyperrealism in his The High Performance Machine Is About Athletic Shoes. Sneakers as commodity fetish and Joe and Jane Lunchbox agog in rapture. -- CSJ Through April 12. Marina Kessler Gallery, 2628 NW Second Ave. 305-573-6006.
