Miami photographer Zachary Balber explores the contrasts between popular culture and his own Jewish heritage in an exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Florida - FIU through March 13, 2020.
The new year is upon us; the shows go on. Many are free.
BLACK V. WHITE
Atchugarry Art Center, just north of the Design District, has made a splash since it opened just last year with pertinent artists and beautifully curated exhibitions in both its foundation and adjacent commercial spaces. This winter brings the stark and stunning show juxtaposing 20th-century modernist Louise Nevelson and 21st-century abstract sculptor Pablo Atchugarry. The works of the two dance together in a minimalist color-scape of the large foundation space. Nevelson was born in Ukraine at the and of the 1800s, and immigrated to New York where she studied with the pioneering abstract expressionist Hans Hoffman. She developed her own abstract style in sculpture, often using wood as her main material, and was commissioned for many outdoor public art pieces (there is a sculpture garden in New York City named after her). Atchugarry comes from a different world (Uruguay) and era (post-war), but also works in large abstractions, primarily in marble. Freed from color, the visitor is left to contemplate the pure form of these sculptures, the subtleties of lines and curves and the similarities and differences in the sculptural creation process.
If you can tear yourself away from this contemplative space, two gallery shows add to the experience. One features post-war Italian art; the other is a solo outing from conceptual artist Eugenio Espinoza, who furthers his exploration of the “grid.” (through Jan. 26).
“Dialogue in Black and White,” through March 30, at Atchugarry Art Center, 520 NE 4th Ave, Miami, www.atchugarryartcenter.com. Free.
At Atchugarry Art Center, “Dialogue in Black and White” juxtaposes black wood sculptures by Louise Nevelson and white marble sculptures by Pablo Atchugarry through March 30, 2020.
BALBER ON THE BEACH
Miami’s Zachary Balber has a great eye, for both the glamorous architectural world and the personal portrait (he studied under Bruce Weber). The latter is the focus of this exhibit of captivating, off-kilter and deeply personal photographs of a world close to him. It’s not common for the subject of the camera to be young, tattooed, punked-out Jewish men, but that’s who is depicted in these large, intimate portraits. We know their religious identity as each wears the kippah, or yarmulke, that was Balber’s for his own bar mitzvah. Most likely these aren’t young lawyers or doctors, but disaffected outsiders — they are, as Balber describes, a lost boy tribe. They may have survived prison or addiction, but they continued to express an individualism which is on full, dramatic display. Balber says he re-discovered his own roots and heritage during this exploration of these men’s “camouflaged” backgrounds. Powerful stuff.
“TAMIM” by Zachary Balber, through March 15, at The Jewish Museum of Florida - FIU, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; jmof.fiu.edu. Free on Saturdays.
Miami photographer Zachary Balber’s portrait show at the Jewish Museum of Florida - FIU runs through March 13, 2020.
HOMETOWN HERO
There are times that much-anticipated large solo exhibits, especially ones from an artist with Miami or Caribbean roots, can be a bit of a letdown. Too much can be shoved into one presentation in an attempt to show an all-inclusive career record. Fortunately that’s not the case for Teresita Fernandez’s “Elemental” solo show at Pérez Art Museum Miami. Born in Miami, she’s been based in New York and has become best known for her public sculptures made from unique materials; she’s shown early on with high-profile galleries — currently Lehmann Maupin — and had had solo exhibits in museums from Tokyo to Turin, Italy.
Back here in Miami, “Elemental” is indeed a survey, in that it includes works from the 1990s onwards.
But this has a transfixing, thematic feel, as though the works are flowing together. Fernandez’s background as a daughter of Cuban immigrants and her explorations of ethnic and social threads emerge in her work. But “Elemental”s interpretations of the fluctuating nature and land around us feel fundamental. While the wonderful large installations such as the translucent, fabric floor-to-ceiling “rooms” of “Borrowed Landscape” and the graphite-and-steel “Drawn Waters” cascade might be initial show-stoppers, it’s the subtle works and muted tones that create the atmosphere, a landscape of lakes and shorelines at dark, northern lights, fire and charred landscapes, the inky sky at night.
“Elemental” solo show of works by Teresita Fernandez, at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., downtown Miami; through Feb. 9. pamm.org. Admission free every first Thursday.
“Elemental,” a solo show of works by Teresita Fernandez, runs through Feb. 9 at Pérez Art Museum Miami.
MOUNDVERSE
Trenton Doyle Hancock’s installation “I Made a Mound City in Miami Dade County” is whimsical and fun, like the comics on which much of his artwork is based. But its underpinnings are serious and weighty. In a nutshell, “Mound City” is part of the story Doyle Hancock has been telling, with all its social and political undertones, since he was 10. His flawed superhero and alter-ego, Torpedo Boy, protects the gentle Mounds and fights their mutant enemies, much as Hancock did in rejecting the prohibitions of his religious upbringing. Their world is populated with super bright, candy-colored dolls and toys and floor tiles and a giant fabric tent/mound, in which the visitor watches an animation of this fantastic universe. The installation is a followup to “Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass” which was unveiled at Mass MOCA last spring.
As a fun addition, the back room has been transformed into a pop-up comic book store from Radiator Comics, whose owner is Miamian Neil Brideau. Workshops held throughout duration of the show.
Trenton Doyle Hancock’s “I Made a Mound City in Miami Dade County” through Feb. 8 at Locust Projects; closed until Jan. 1. Free.
Torpedo Boy and other characters from Trenton Hancock Doyle’s Moundverse are on display at Locust Projects.
LAST-CHANCE KUSAMA
Crowds have flocked to LED-lit infinity mirror room installations by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama in cities around the globe. Through Jan. 31, you can still see her mirrored installation, “All the Enternal Love I have for Pumpkins,” courtesy of the Institute of Contemporary Art - Miami. The exhibition is open Thursdays-Sundays. from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission will be free each Thursday on a first-come basis.; timed-tickets will be available Fridays-Sundays for $15. The installation is staged in the Design District, at 112 NE 41st Street, suite 106, rather than in the ICA building. www.icamiami.org.
Yayoi Kusama, “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins,” detail, 2016. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore and Victoria Miro, London.
THE NEW RUBELL
If you missed the insane opening of the newly named Rubell Museum (formerly Rubell Family Collection) during Art Week, now’s a good downtime to check out what all the hype is about — and it is worth the hype. The huge (100,000 square feet) space designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf — with 40 ground-floor galleries, library, soon-to-open restaurant and gorgeous courtyard all — is now based in Allapattah. But of course what fills this sprawling complex is the real attraction, and the opening exhibition doesn’t disappoint.
The 300 works by 100 artists in the year-long inaugural exhibit were gleaned from the Rubells’ spectacular collection spanning 55 years. The show is so intuitively laid out that you’ll need little guidance to take you through one impressive painting, photograph, sculpture and installation after another. Seminal artists who helped create the contemporary art framework, including Cindy Sherman, Keith Haring, Cady Noland, Kehinde Wiley and Yayoi Kusama, are presented along with some newer artists such as Rashid Johnson and Mikalene Thomas (who has an exhibit at The Bass well worth seeing as well). Together, they relate a seamless tale of important 20th and 21st century art. That the Rubell will join the list of top contemporary art museums the country over is in little doubt.
Inaugural exhibition at Rubell Museum, 1100 NW 23 St., Allapattah; rubellmuseum.org. $10 for Miami-Dade residents.
The inaugural show at the new Rubell Museum in Allapattah showcases 300 works from the Rubell family collection, including this mammoth canvas by Kehinde Wiley.
This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
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