Steel Magnolias

All across Miami, the soaring steel beams rising from urban construction sites give one a sense of a world constantly uprooted by change. But in the hands of sculptor Lydia Azout, the same elements forging the transformation of our landscape exude a force powerful enough to transport viewers to the dawn of time. Her new solo show, “Out of the Ordinary Geometry,” opening Wednesday at the Frost Museum of Art (10975 SW 17th St., Miami), features large-scale iron sculptures and installations that reflect the spirit of sacred architecture and evoke notions of antiquity and ancient places of pilgrimage. Burnished in a luminous patina, Azout’s elegant, often-sprawling pieces exude simple elemental forms and are at once archetypical and mysterious. Her works reflect the harmony of cosmic order, nature’s primal forces, and the symbolic power of the feminine. Azout’s sculptures are also evocative of time and memory, mutability, and permanence. Navigate her dexterous choreography of geometric, abstract forms and you’ll discover they resonate with a notable lyricism. You’ll also find that Azout has a gift for dramatizing that steel is as malleable as space while conveying a sense of the totality of existence and the ineffable spirit of the universe.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Sept. 12. Continues through Oct. 31, 2012