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Taking Miami’s Palette Pulse
It’s become a bit of a parlor game to size up Miami’s art scene — where it is at in relation to the rest of the world, where it is going. Is there a Miami look or zeitgeist? After numerous visits to shows as the high season kicked in, it seems an increasingly silly exercise to try and impose labels. There is so much out there, art made by locals and those from faraway shores, in galleries and exhibits so disparate
in style and tone, that it’s time to simply open some doors, look around, and take your own pulse.
The Charest-Weinberg Gallery (an international arrival here with spaces in New York, Montreal, and London), has a lovely show with a widely divergent artistic base, called “Why Were You Born?” It’s not the most glamorous of entries, as you have to ride a rather dark elevator to the fourth floor and travel down a long hall, but then, a Kara Walker greets you, surrounded by an array of smallish painting and sculpture from superstars such as Wilfredo Lam, Pablo Picasso, Roberto Matta, and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Interspersed are works from locals such as Bhakti Baxter and Jason Hedges. There’s a beautiful wood painting from Purvis Young, and a couple captivating inkjet prints from Richard Dupont. Some of the works are for sale, some are not, but of the over 30 works at least a few should get your blood flowing.
“Bubble Raft” at the Dorsch Gallery has a very different feel — big, brash sculpture with more than a little humor sprinkled about. The sectioned off rooms are thematically grouped somewhat; in the “color” room, for instance, an electric fuchsia pillar instinctively makes you dig for your sunglasses (don’t miss the sublime piece from David Shaw in the same room). In another section is an altar from Brandon Opalka that is just great, as is the neighboring, humorous work from another local, Carlos Rigau. The roster is again mixed, with artists from here and elsewhere, and names that are new as well; very refreshing.
This show had the potential to be too noisy, but it has been expertly executed so that the sculptures get their own space and breathing room.
Finally the opening of yet another gallery, Irreversible, was very noisy, but fortunately again, the exhibit itself wasn’t. This newcomer will represent locals such as Tomas Esson, Alejandro Mendoza, and Sinuhe Vega — nine artists in all. For the inaugural exhibit, Mendoza’s wooden sculptures were a stand-out, as were the sewn mixed media works from Anja Marais. The director wants to expand the offerings here to theatrical and musical events as well.
“Why Were You Born” through Oct. 5 at Charest-Weinberg, 250 N.W. 23rd St., space408, Miami; www.charest-weinberg.com. “Bubble Raft” through Oct. 2 at Dorsch Gallery, 151 N.W. 24th St., Miami; 305-576-1278; dorschgallery.com. Irreversible inaugural show, 6900 Biscayne Blvd, Miami; www.irreversiblemagazine.com.
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