Arts

Art and about: events not to miss this week

Some of the art world in Miami took a little break to be up in New York over the last week, for the inaugural Frieze art fair and its satellites, the latest in big-time art fair happenings — the London-based original is making moves to compete with the Armory week in New York in the winter, and Art Basel Miami Beach as well. We will await the feedback of this first stateside outing, which took place under a huge white tent on Randall Island. In the meantime, art goes on here in Miami.

Tonight, ARTtuesdays/Miami continues with “Singular Plurals, Art-Making Couples,” a panel discussion at Book & Books in Coral Gables with several of the area’s most intriguing artistic couples: photographers Mirta Gomez and Eduardo del Valle; painter and sculptor Mette Tommerup and Robert Chambers; and artists and architects Rosario Marquart and Roberto Behar. They should have a lot to say.

On Thursday, Colombian artist Fabio Mesa will get a second unveiling at the Zadok Gallery, with the exhibition “Lost Souls,” large-scale works that are painting incorporating plexiglass and light. His works often depict a mass of humanity moving in a direction — although in what direction we have to guess. Running away, or migrating to? There are references to upheavals from a homeland that has known not only violence and civil wars, but rapid urbanization and man-made ecological change.

And on Friday, ArtCenter/South Florida (a Knight Arts grantee) is previewing a new show in a truly innovative way — it has put out a call to breastfeeding mothers to come and nurse their babies in front of a special, five-foot sculpture. Yes, it is a breast, made of welded aluminum, from London Tsai, and the event is a nod to Mother’s Day. It is part of a sculpture show of works from Tsai and Judith Berk King. “I think the breast is something everyone can connect to,” says the artist. “Beyond being a source of life, there is the aesthetically pleasing aspect and the symbolic…the breast is fundamental.”  The exhibit, “Quantum Shift” then officially opens on Saturday.

“Singular Plurals: Art-Making Couples,” a panel discussion, will take place tonight at 7 p.m. at  Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables; 305-442-4408; [email protected] “Lost Souls” runs through June 1 at Zadok Gallery, 2534 N. Miami Ave, Miami; 305-438-3737; www.zadokgallery.com “Qunatum Shift” opens Saturday and runs through June 17 at ArtCenter/South Florida, 800 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach; 305-674-8278; www.artcentersf.org