The Rich Colors of Rio

Stand in front of one of Beatriz Milhazes’ exuberant canvases and chances are you’ll soon begin to feel lightheaded. The Brazilian artist is known for her complex and disorienting compositions bursting with wild, decorative patterns that are typically rendered in a glowing tropical palette. They bring to mind everything from the lavish nature of the Amazon rainforest to the seductive radiance of Carnival time in Rio. Milhazes’ quixotic surfaces pulsate with cascades of overlapping circles, flowering blossoms, candy-colored horizontal stripes, and waves of ornate arabesques that induce vertigo while engulfing the viewer. Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m., you can catch her sensory-jarring oeuvre at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), where a new exhibit marks the first major U.S. survey of works created by the rising Brazilian abstract artist. “Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botânico” features more than 40 large-scale paintings, collages, and screen prints from the past 25 years of her career, including several never before seen by an American public and three new paintings created specifically for PAMM’s presentation. The exhibit traces, for the first time, Milhazes’ distinct, densely textured painting style and use of geometric forms and motifs she draws from sources as disparate as North American pop art, colonial baroque, and European modernism. It also places a focus on Milhazes’ one-of-a-kind artistic process in which she collages with paint to explore movement and materiality. “Beatriz Milhazes: Jardim Botânico” runs through January 11 at Pérez Art Museum Miami (1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami). Call 305-375-3000, or visit pamm.org. Exhibition hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission costs $12 for adults and $8 for seniors, students with ID, and kids 7 to 18 years old. Children under 6 get in free.
Thu., Sept. 18, 6 p.m., 2014