In each of the past two years, as the Miami Heat has warped up to turbo speed while chasing the Larry O'Brien Trophy, there's been an added nervous energy in Wynwood during playoff time.
This weekend's edition of Second Saturday promises to be no different, as local galleries and watering holes will be tuned into an anticipated Big Three smack down of hated Brooklyn on their home court in prime time.
You can also look forward to plenty of art on tap while Miami looks to go up in the series 3-0 on their way to a sweep of the Nets and that hoped for elusive ThreePeat.
Here is our slam dunk lineup for a sizzling Art Walk starting at 3 p.m. at most of the galleries where, like everywhere else in the Big Mango, a white hot fever is on full display.
Edouard Duval Carrié: Solo Exhibition
If you missed the Haitian-born, Miami-based talent's beguiling showcase currently on view at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) here's the chance to catch a more expansive view of the artist's game. At Pan American Art Projects you'll encounter a mixed bag of moves ranging from older, more colorful pieces placed alongside the new. Duval Carrié dishes off on issues that have shaped the history of his homeland from colonialism to slavery, immigration and myth with a critical eye and a deft shooter's hand.
Pan American Art Projects 2450 NW Second Ave., Miami. 305-573-2400, panamericanart.com.
Clandestine Culture
Since his rookie debut at Gregg Shienbaum Fine Art last year, this local street artist, known for his trademark latex paint-on-paper posters depicting protesters, police in riot gear, portraits of strangers, and others -- all with the words Clandestine Culture emblazoned across the bottom -- has refined the strokes. For his sophomore exhibit at Shienbaum, the artist, who goes by the moniker Poska, delivers unexpected back door cuts with new mixed media works and eye-catching installations that riff on everything from the sex industry and its workers, to medical marijuana and seedy, hot sheet motels in a gritty, in-your-face street baller way.
Gregg Shienbaum Fine Art, 2239 NW Second Ave., Miami. 305-456-5478, gsfineart.com.
2J: Justin Beal & Jesse Willenbring: EXHAUSTION
Forget CP3 and all those West Coast contenders eager to steal the thunder from LeBron, Bosh, and Wade. This brawny show marks the debut of 2J, a collaborative venture between sculptor Justin Beal and painter Jesse Willenbring. The conceptual tag team builds on Beal's background as an architect and Willenbring's work as a graphic designer, to deliver a hybridized approach to object-making at the Locust Projects space. Their full court, site specific installation double dribbles on the gallery's interior architecture and proximity to the Design District in a dizzying investigation of design, advertising and consumption that will blow you away. In Locust's Project Room don't miss Performative Intimacy, an installation by Los Angeles-based sculptor David Jang, known for his inventive kinetic installations employing hacked consumer electronics and domestic appliances he subverts. Jang cleans up the glass for 2J with twenty-four ceiling-mounted box fans emitting a cool, dancing breeze off the bench.
Locust Projects, 3852 N. Miami Ave., Miami. 305-576-8570, locustprojects.org.
Swapping Souls With Strangers
At the Robert Fontaine Gallery, David Walker weighs into Wynwood with a double pump solo, marking his first major U.S. show. The London-born, Berlin-based artist is unfurling a dozen large-scale portraits combining traditional approaches to the subject matter with a distinct urban art and graffiti vibe. "I am drawn to the idea of creating a beautiful portrait out of components that are associated with ugliness," Walker says. "There is some odd poetry in that." His expanded repertoire includes a new suite of text pieces devoid of color utilizing an experimental "wet painting" technique delivering some hang time freshness to the gallery in the process.
Robert Fontaine Gallery, 2349 NW Second Ave., Miami. 305-397-8530, robertfontainegallery.com.
Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.
