Amy Johnson wants to knock art off its altar and drag it back to the street, where it belongs. When the veteran of the West Coast DIY scene arrived in Miami last year, she felt like she had parachuted into Hell. “The art scene here seems very elitist and institutional,”…
As a teen, R. Grimes was initiated into the local punk scene after taking a thrashing from a group of skinheads. Undeterred, the skateboard rat frequently traveled to the hardcore South Beach club scene from his home in the Keys, eager to absorb the lumps and quaky imagery that now…
2007 Cintas Fellowship Finalists: The show features the work of Alexandre Arrechea, María Martínez-Cañas, Gean Moreno, Wilfredo Prieto, and Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, the five finalists for the $15,000 Cintas visual arts fellowship for 2007. Martínez-Cañas is the standout amid a lot of inconsistent work and shoddy presentation. The artist, who snagged…
A bronto-size exhibit at the Miami ScienceMuseum herds a collection of some of the finest and rarest dinosaur fossils under one roof and delivers a whopping good time. “The Dinosaurs of China” features more than 50 individual fossils, 14 of the reptilian giants’ mounted skeletons, and a breathtaking array of…
The thick molasses of memory and the pulsing beat of conga drums are the essence of Cuban artist Humberto Benitez’s energetic, flamboyantly hued work. The painter creates canvases rich with imagery of his homeland’s music, landscape, people, and customs in exuberant, jazzy compositions that reflect his soulful yearning for a…
2007 Cintas Fellowship Finalists: The show features the work of Alexandre Arrechea, María Martínez-Cañas, Gean Moreno, Wilfredo Prieto, and Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, the five finalists for the $15,000 Cintas visual arts fellowship for 2007. Martínez-Cañas is the standout amid a lot of inconsistent work and shoddy presentation. The artist, who snagged…
It’s difficult to imagine Hialeah families piling onto Miami Beach-bound buses to catch their first ever museum show. But when the call comes from the revered queen of salsa, they heed. “¡Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz,” at the Bass Museum of Art, explores the iconic Cuban singer’s…
Contrary to popular belief, the city of Miami wasn’t founded 15 years ago by Gotham developers. It was incorporated July 28, 1896, by pioneers fed up with “public nudity and their neighbors crapping on the streets,” explains avant choreographer Octavio Campos, organizer of a bawdy birthday bacchanal for the Big…
Make Your Own Life: Artists in and out of Cologne: In the early Eighties a phenomenon unfolded in Cologne, Germany, that has art bigwigs scratching their noggins to this day: The industrial burg on the Rhine, 90 percent of which had been flattened by Allied bombing raids during World War…
Jenny Dubnau cold-cocks you with her smashing Surprised Self-Portrait right off the bat. The artist has rendered herself with an utter oddball naturalism in the oil-on-canvas painting. She suffers from bed head, and her neck appears flushed in the morning light, which glints off of her cheeks. Behind bleary, startled…
A concert for babies, one man’s riveting take on being Latino and gay, a silent comedy about two women squabbling over an airport bench, and an intimate portrait of three women stuck in a cheap motel room: This year’s International Hispanic Theater Festival delivers something for everyone. Running through July…
Julius Caesar: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend us your butts: William Shakespeare’s play about the fall of Rome’s most storied dictator comes to the New Theatre as the latest installment in its Shakespeare & Friends Festival. The Bard wrote The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar, more commonly known as Julius Caesar, in…
Tamayo: A Modern Icon Reinterpreted: This probing autopsy of Rufino Tamayo’s work and life marks his first major U.S. exhibition in nearly 30 years and features close to 100 paintings culled from private and institutional collections from across the globe. The show offers an incisive look at what made the…
There is a foul, slipshod odor emanating from the Cintas Foundation exhibit at the Frost Art Museum. The show features the work of Alexandre Arrechea, María Martínez-Cañas, Gean Moreno, Wilfredo Prieto, and Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova, the five finalists for the $15,000 Cintas visual arts fellowship for 2007. The foundation was established…
Although it might seem a lick late to hitch onto CiFo’s hay wagon, don’t let that stop you from joining the stampede. Here’s your last chance to catch “Jump Cuts: Venezuelan Contemporary Art from the Colección Mercantil” at CiFo Art Space. It’s open from 10:00 to 4:00 today and offers…
Tamayo: A Modern Icon Reinterpreted: This probing autopsy of Rufino Tamayo’s work and life marks his first major U.S. exhibition in nearly 30 years and features close to 100 paintings culled from private and institutional collections from across the globe. The show offers an incisive look at what made the…
In the early Eighties a phenomenon unfolded in Cologne, Germany, that has art bigwigs scratching their noggins to this day: The industrial burg on the Rhine, 90 percent of which had been flattened by Allied bombing raids during World War II, exploded as the most consequential contemporary art capital outside…
Head case Frank Zappa warned us not to eat the yellow snow, and now a show curated by Renee Cagnina suggests the heavens might part and rain down urine. “The Sky Is Yellow,” opening today at ArtCenter/South Florida, skewers notions of perceptions and truth through two- and three-dimensional works designed…
A probing autopsy of Rufino Tamayo’s work and life is on view at the Miami Art Museum (MAM), and it offers an incisive look at what made the controversial Mexican painter tick. “Tamayo: A Modern Icon Reinterpreted” marks his first major U.S. exhibition in nearly 30 years, and features close…
If you were to open the mailbox and discover a snazzy, finger-snapping, cross-cultural postcard, Mantra World Music Ensemble would likely come to mind. Led by percussionist, vocalist, and perennial good-vibe fairy Marlon Moore, Mantra combines a hip-swaying blend of original and classic music into a high-energy celebration of jazz, Latin,…
After more than 48 months in an incubator, Brian Dursum’s baby has finally hatched. Christened “Clay and Brush: The Ceramic Art of China,” the Lowe Art Museum’s new exhibit is a penetrating historical survey of the development of Chinese ceramics from the Neolithic period to the 21st Century, drawn entirely…
“Prayers for Santos and Orishas,” a striking photography show at Centro Cultural Español, peels back the veil on contemporary religious life in Cuba by depicting in a rare light the devotional soul of the island. The three-part exhibit includes 40 black-and-white pictures by photographers Gonzalo González, Raúl Cañibano, and Humberto…
