SAT 10/8
"I find it incredible that some people will spend $6000 for a Louis Vuitton bag or miss a mortgage payment to buy Hermès yet are reluctant to purchase art," marvels Dot Fiftyone Gallery cofounder Isaac Perelman. "I hope this show, featuring many unique art products, will entice people who don't usually collect to consume art."
"Consuming Art: The Premier Edition," organized by Dot Fiftyone and Alejandra von Hartz Fine Arts, displays the work of nearly twenty artists who have applied their art-making techniques to designing objects of comfort. The exhibit opens tonight at 8:00 at Dot Fiftyone (51 NW 36th St., Miami), and a portion of the sales will be donated to the Voices for Children Foundation. "Some of these artists have created one-of-a-kind pieces that those with discriminating taste will find interesting," promises Perelman. "We have jewelry, furniture, china, cutlery, clothing, lamps, everything a consumer desires."
The top-end inventory includes Ed Levin's wood and Plexiglas bathtub large enough for a Wynwood developer and a harem of investors to splash in. For the discerning socialite wishing to tote her protein bar, cell phone, and Hummer keys with class, Michel Oka Doner has dished up a sterling silver log-shaped clutch bag, a bargain at $15,000. Ladies dreaming of treating their tootsies like royalty must rush to snag a pair of José Luis Anzizar's shoes. Priced at $580, they're sure not to last. Those on a Home Depot budget, don't worry. Perelman mentions Lynne Golob Gelfman's wallpaper and shower curtains. "We have something for everybody, and [we're] excited to be supporting a good cause." Call 305-573-9994, or visit www.dotfiftyone.com --Carlos Suarez de Jesus
Organic Gardening
FRI 10/7
Conceptually green-thumbed Gye-Hoon Park fertilizes the furrows of imagination with his earthy approach to making art. Think of "Jack and the Beanstalk," and you might begin to unravel the picture. His complex process consists of layering organic sheets of rice paper to create a flowering seedbed where he magically conjures the textured imagery of tiny plants sprouting as a commentary on life's delicate nature. Park inscrutably labors to hand-hew bushels of sprouts into the paper, one by one, in an effort to cultivate his whimsical vision, making it difficult to deny he's a blooming original. His solo show, "Weak Standing," germinates at 7:30 tonight at Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, 3080 SW 38th St., Miami. Call 305-774-5969, or visit www.dlfinearts.com. -- Carlos Suarez De Jesus
Please, Mr. Postman
Il Postino delivers
FRI 10/7
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was famous for his politics. The Nobel Prize-winning writer's controversial communist beliefs forced him to leave his homeland in 1949. It was this time of Neruda's life, when the weight of exile led him to write Las Uvas y el Viento, that inspired Italian filmmaker Massimo Troisi to write Il Postino, a film depicting Neruda's real-life situation as a poignant, universally resonant, fictional story. Troisi plays Mario, an introvert who tries to cultivate a relationship with the reclusive poet. Attendees can expect a lively discussion of this movie's deeper meaning following a screening tonight at 7:30, as part of the Florida Psychoanalytic Society's "Psychoanalysis and Films" screening series. Come early for a wine and cheese reception at 7:00 at MIAMIntelligence center, 2000 S. Dixie Hwy., Miami. Admission is ten dollars. Call 305-860-2499, or visit www.miamintelligence.com. --Patrice Elizabeth Grell Yursik
Artistic Visions
NAEMI celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
FRI 10/7
Since 1988 the National Art Exhibition by the Mentally Ill (NAEMI) has notched a remarkable record of discovering talented outsider artists and promoting their creative vision to the public. "New Horizons in Hispanic Outsider Art," premiering tonight at 7:00 at Centro Cultural Español (800 Douglas Rd., Ste. 170, Coral Gables), features 40 works by fifteen artists struggling with mental illness while seeking to gain self-confidence and contribute their voices to society.
Curated by Lehigh University professor Ricardo Viera and organized as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the traveling exhibit showcases artists from Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States. The unique event showcases Carlos Cuenca's fantastic forests, Lucia Ballester's innocent yet tormented circus lions, and Mario Mesa's curious collection of monsters and ghosts. Enjoy their work and accompanying book, as well as music, films, and lectures. Call 305-448-9677, or visit www.ccemiami.org. -- Carlos Suarez De Jesus
Finger-Painting Masterpiece
FRI 10/7
Arte del Barrio cultural activists believe the earlier the better when it comes to getting youngsters off of the seesaws and on to painting murals. The troupe of painters, photographers, sculptors, auteurs, musicians, and actors will be working with the sandbox set at the Happy Kids Too day-care facility (1700 Jefferson Ave., Miami Beach) all day in an interactive visual arts and musical performance, including a reception this afternoon at 4:00.
"We will assist toddlers to create a painting at the center, with colorful landscapes, fairy-tale cartoons, butterflies reading books, and bumble bees playing together," says Arte del Barrio founder Aimee Ortiz. The organization plans several youth outreach projects this season. Call 786-351-8695, or visit www.artedelbarrio.com. -- Carlos Suarez De Jesus
