Reviews

“Encrypted,” an exhibition of works by Toma Jankowski, is on view at Waltman Ortega Fine Art, Miami through May 11, 2017. The exhibition features mixed media work consisting of small-format drawings or rather, mixed media works on canvas with bold primary colors of backgrounds and ample negative space, filled with symbolist elements drawn in ink, some with elements of collage, and each like an … +

Bill Brady, Miami is hosting “A Muse Me”, an exhibition by Natalie White (b.1988), on view through May 13, 2017. The exhibition marks the debut of New York-based artist Natalie White as a photographer, featuring 14 nude self-portraits created with the iconic 20 x 24-inch Polaroid camera from 1978. White’s practice embraces a cross-generational reverence for late-20th century American art and culture. … +

“MASTERpieces,” a group show by several artists, is on view at the Ascaso Gallery, Miami through June 2, 2017. Divided into two rooms, the first room of the gallery focuses on the works of Victor Vasarely, Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz Diez, Alejandro Otero, Victor Valera, Luis Tomasello, Antonio Asis, Dario Perez Flores and Santiago Medina. The second room of the gallery features … +

It was a packed house recently when the internationally renowned experimental composer and performance artist Laurie Anderson spoke at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at FIU. Anderson spoke as part of the Steven & Dorothea Green Critics’ Lecture Series. The room broke out in rousing applause as Anderson, with her hair in a small bun atop her head and dressed … +

Chances are if you’re a film buff or happen to frequent Little Havana, you have attended at film at the Tower Theater. Hopefully you have, given that it is an institution in Miami’s film community. Not only is it a site for screenings during the yearly Miami Film Festival (taking place this year March 3-12), but they also screen award-winning and retrospective … +

Named after the late Miami Herald Film Critic Bill Cosford, the Cosford Cinema on the University of Miami Coral Gables Campus at 60 years old is Miami’s longest running arthouse cinema. The building itself was erected in 1947 and wasn’t a cinema at all but the Beaumont Lecture Hall. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the space was converted into a cinema … +

Bringing together the long-standing Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Archive Images at Miami-Dade College and newcomers Obsolete Media Miami (OMM) was an ingenious way for HistoryMiami to present their current exhibition MemoryLab which ends its run on Sunday, April 16. Rene Ramos, archives director at Miami-Dade College and Mike Knoll, vice president of curatorial affairs at HistoryMiami, conceptualized the show, … +

Galleria Ca d’Oro’s Gloria Porcella, the youngest of four generations of Rome’s renowned art connoisseurs, is on a clear mission to bring Italian art to the U.S. with the stateside debut of the gallery in Coral Gables. Having only opened last year during Art Basel, with the placement of Cracking Art Group’s Pink Snails all over Miami Beach, Porcella has already become … +

The nostalgias, longings and sadness of youth and the aging process, itself are the heavy subjects tackled at a joyous occasion. There are no paradoxes here. On a splendid evening in November, Miami-based orthodontist and collector Arturo Mosquera welcomed the public into his office space (and exhibition annex) for drinks, a full salsa band, food and good friends.

With so much attention placed on contemporary art coming out of Wynwood, it is sometimes difficult to note the cultural milieus found in other areas of Miami. Consider Little Havana. Marked by sidewalk cafes, ethnic restaurants, storefront churches, and tourist busses, it is also the site of a surreal underground art space run by Adalberto Delgado: The 6th Street Container.

Since its opening in 1974, exhibitions featuring leading artists from around the world, as well as notable emerging artists, have graced the walls of ArtSpace Virginia Miller Galleries. From its location in Coral Gables, noted art curator and dealer, Virginia Miller, continues to host contemporary artists, often introducing them to art enthusiasts in the United States in some new and important way.

For all of the inherent value laden in the masterpieces of Modern and contemporary art, there is something menacing going on beneath the surface. The public rarely, if ever, knows the scope of scandal, underhanded dealings and boldfaced deceit carried out, while dealers and auction houses cash in on the public’s money.

As citizens of such a uniquely blended city, we are lucky enough to experience a different culture on almost every corner. We pride ourselves in the development of our scene, in the enrichment of our own identity, and have become quite the hit for our art fairs, events, our galleries and museums, and of course, for the artists that inspire it all.

It has never been more rewarding to be Hispanic in the US; with so much effort behind the conservation of a culture driven out of so many of its own countries, Miami’s flavor continues to thrive. So much so, that the essence of this culture, its art, has become the city’s own; claiming gallery walls, street murals, concert halls, and the renowned … +

Fortunately, as Miamians, we are exposed to an extreme variety of art forms. We have evolved with our city, and have come to find art in the most unexpected places. We appreciate our streets, walls, and spaces, our incomparable vibe, but must at some point question where it all came from.

Last December, just before the holidays, I spoke with Dance NOW! Miami founders and creative directors Diego Salterini and Hannah Baumgarten about Miami Open Stage, their new quarterly open stage series showcasing local talent at the Little Haiti Cultural Center.

Armed with an enormous metal crossbow (seemingly lifted from the pages of feudal folklore versus an artist’s studio), using wooden 2 x 4’s as ammunition, Justin Long and Robert ‘Meatball’ Lorie invited onlookers to initiate a countdown (on one particular evening, each successive countdown was shouted out in a different language each time) until a ‘target board’ roughly 100 yards away was … +

A dose of popular culture made its way into the Dorsch Gallery, most recognizable for presenting works and metaphors far away from the likes of Hollywood, Obama gnomes and Picasso.

Apart from the major institutions here in Miami (MAM, MOCA, Bass and the private collections), it’s rather difficult to get up close to works by internationally established artists, considered masters in their own country. In Wynwood, the Ascaso Gallery breaks that spell.

Miami’s Mad Cat Theatre Company is currently running its last show of the season, So My Grandmother Died, Blah Blah Blah, and it’s a real crowd-pleaser. Daringly blending a motley assortment of off-the-wall characters with a script that’s both emotionally deep and gut-wrenchingly funny, writer-director Paul Tei has yet again brought some new and wacky life to the city’s theater scene. If … +

There have been a lot of changes at the Bass Museum lately. The most notable of these might be the external arrival area, recently redesigned into a naturally flowing and attractive space by Oppenheim Architecture + Design. But there’s more going on, and one only needs to head just inside the museum’s doors to catch a glimpse of its further transformation. This … +