The only way of doing justice to the Miami Art Museum’s expanding holdings would be to run a list in very small type, with which proud museum honchos would undoubtedly agree. Judging by the latest show, it’s difficult to dismiss the rocketing optimism. For an institution that began collecting only…
French sculptor Elyan Biscayn doesn’t need to wander beyond her yard to find inspiration. Since she moved to South Florida, palm trees have been her muse. The artist applies resins to fronds to form carved and twisted shapes that she later mounts on geometric pedestals of marble and steel. Her…
I’m So Much Better than You: Magnus Sigurdarson’s installation features four tons of Miami New Times papers interlocked like bricks to form a curving hip-high wall. It houses a DVD player and monitor where the artist is seen performing a puppet show in Xiamen, China. Sigurdarson, who was born in…
On a recent visit to Faktura Gallery, the place looked more like a punching bag than the toast of the town. Located on a garbage-strewn dead-end street in Little Haiti, its gritty façade was pocked by concrete bruises doctored in a jalapeño green coat of paint. A ratty car seat,…
This summer the Miami Art Museum beckons you to unleash that inner size queen with “Big Juicy Paintings (and more): Selections from the Permanent Collection,” a space-gobbling show organizers hope will leave the public tingling with thoughts that bigger is better indeed. How big is big? Try Arturo Herrera’s When…
I’m So Much Better than You: Magnus Sigurdarson’s installation features four tons of Miami New Times papers interlocked like bricks to form a curving hip-high wall. It houses a DVD player and monitor where the artist is seen performing a puppet show in Xiamen, China. Sigurdarson, who was born in…
At Rocket Projects on a recent Saturday, a group of Midwestern artists gussied up for their Miami premiere. Florida Power and Light had torn apart the sidewalk in front of the gallery, and construction work blocked off the street. Someone taped signs on the building’s exterior walls that read, “Enter…
According to the Centers for Disease Control and the Florida Department of Health, last year new cases of HIV infection jumped at the highest rate in the nation in Miami-Dade and Broward. Both counties rank among the nation’s top five in HIV infection rates. Since 1995, the Center for Positive…
For those who believe contemporary art has taken a plunge into the shitter, the edgy Faktura Gallery presents some wacky relief via a show devoted to everyone’s favorite throne. “Here I Sit” piles together more than 25 creative nut bags who have left their meaningful marks on revamped toilet seats…
Enigmatic Figures: This exhibit touts Argentine Mateo Arguello Pitt’s breakout appearance at ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries. The show also features works by Aurora Cañero, Maria Gamundi, and José Benito, who provide little more than background noise to Pitt’s quirky paintings. He, at least, has something to say. The female artists appear…
When the military blockade was lifted this past October, Steve Martin returned from Nashville to his Julia Street studio in New Orleans’s Warehouse/Arts District unsure of what, if anything, he would find. It had been more than a month since Hurricane Katrina mauled his city, and survival was the only…
While walking in the Big Apple a few years ago, Antonia Wright stumbled upon a key on a sidewalk and found herself wondering what secrets it held. “I remember looking down and whispering, Who owns you?” the artist recalls. Before long, she was finding lost or discarded keys all over…
As Gloria Estefan puts it out there, the sweet-as-sugar-cane rhythm of the island promises to get that booty in a lather and stoke the fires of desire during a coast-to-coast conga line kicking off tonight in Margaritaville. Organized by the Cuban American Heritage Festival, the event celebrates Cuba’s historical and…
Alternative Photographs: Samantha Salzinger might be able to find her way blindfolded around a sex shop. At least that is what her provocative pieces on display at ArtCenter/South Florida suggest. The exhibit, organized by indie curator Carol Jazzar, examines developing trends in photography. Salzinger’s impeccably crafted dioramas, near the gallery…
With a bushel of blue-ribbon exhibits on display, the Bass Museum of Art has embarked on perhaps its busiest programming season. For art lovers accustomed to a lull in activity during the dog days of summer, deciding which shows to choose from among the museum’s expansive menu might be as…
Regardless of which side of the bed one rolls off, the numbing effects of the daily grind battering your average working stiff can either temper the spirit or set the wheels of future spree killers spinning. Luisa Mesa seems determined to not buckle under those nasty curve balls life often…
James Bond is particular about the way his favorite drink – the Vesper martini — is prepared. He prefers a mix of gin, vodka, and vermouth. It should be served ice-cold and with a twist. And of course shaken, not stirred. Beginning at 5:30 tonight, you can unleash that inner…
Anyone bemoaning the lack of debate-stirring art exhibits here should park their puckers over at Alonso Art, a place offering plenty to flap the gums about. “The Unconventional Drawing, Volume I,” burning up the walls tonight at 7:00 at Alonso Art, features nearly 300 provocative notebook-page-size drawings by Tomás Esson…
Alternative Photographs: Samantha Salzinger might be able to find her way blindfolded around a sex shop. At least that is what her provocative pieces on display at ArtCenter/South Florida suggest. The exhibit, organized by indie curator Carol Jazzar, examines developing trends in photography. Salzinger’s impeccably crafted dioramas, near the gallery…
A recent visit to Emmanuel Javogue Fine Arts in Wynwood reminded me of one of those German “pillbox” bunkers U.S. troops stormed during the D-Day invasion. Its façade painted entirely black, the space stands out like a sore thumb on a block lined with white edifices — and is open…
Anyone bewitched by the fiery passion of flamenco can get his or her gypsy on during an intensive series of workshops by Timo Lozano. Lozano is considered the “King of Bulerías” for his mastery of one of the most popular and dramatic dance forms. Presented by Clarita Filgueiras and her…
One often associates Haitian art with bucolic scenes where nature and man coexist in a wild splash of color, but you won’t find a sugar-coated vision of life in a tropical paradise in Edouard Duval-Carrié’s works. His perspective unfolds a view of Haitian history that appears suspended in mythic timelessness…
