If you love going to art shows, you may have some tough choices this weekend as there seems to be more than usual, and a lot of them really interesting.
SHOWTEL
As you can see in the photo, artist Peter Symons has been working on Sutherland, the installation he and wife Leah Brown are doing at Showtel at Hotel Biba in West Palm Beach this weekend. The pair, who own 18 Rabbit Gallery in Fort Lauderdale, heard about Showtel shortly after arriving in South Florida and are excited about the three-day installation art show that kicks off tonight at Hotel Biba in West Palm Beach. Each year artists gather here to transform one to two dozen rooms of the hotel, and even the swimming pool, into works of art. Last year, 2,000 people attended the one-night-only show, resulting in overcrowding and parking difficulties. So this year, the event will run for three nights. Showtel founder and curator Kara Walker-Tomé says interest from artists has become more widespread, too. When it began eight years ago, Showtel included only artists from Palm Beach County. This year, the first in which artists will receive a small stipend, Walker-Tomé received about 60 proposals from all over Florida. One artist, Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, is coming all the way from Minnesota. Here’s a link to my Showtel story in City Link, and a short blog piece I wrote on Miss Pin Cushion, an exhibition to which I think we can all relate.
UNCOMMON GALLERY
Bonnie McCabe and Robin White are collaborating at Uncommon Gallery’s latest monthly show, which opens Friday. White will show works from her “Big Face” collection while McCabe returns to her art and clothing design roots with pillows and purses from White’s work. The show runs 6-11 p.m. Friday at Uncommon Gallery, 2713 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-336-4305.
KRAFTING WITH A CAPITAL K
Crafters can ease their way into the weekend by sipping kava and making projects with host Ragamufyn. Bring a work in progress and a gift for the Kava Kommunity Kraft Basket (beads, yarn, fabric scraps etc) to Kava Kraft Night which runs 5-8 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at Mystic Water Kava Bar, 2037 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Call 954-391-7056.
CHRISTY GAST @ GALLERY DIET
Christy Gast, a Miami artist who earned her MFA from Columbia “University in 2004, is having her first Florida solo exhibition at Gallery Diet. The video installation, titled Betty Cave, is described in a press release from the gallery: “Folklore, conjecture and a Dust Bowl aesthetic evoke a narrative of tenderness and desperation in a series of gestures and images that come together like a flipbook to tell us a story of ecological doom, escapism and partnership. Filmed on a desert mountain where two men, expecting a flood of Biblical proportions, built a dusty ark, the artist’s hands form pictograms with scraps of rusty metal, broken glass and chipped rock on an even more humble stage. Creating a densely layered tableau of imagery and sound, a narrative is teased out of the monuments to folly left in the barren landscape.” Gast’s show opens 6-9 p.m. Friday and runs through May 1 at Gallery Diet, 174 N.W. 23rd Street, Miami. Call 305-571-2288.
CRYSTAL MONOLITHS
Crystal Monoliths, a group exhibition defined as a showcase of works by contemporary artists whose work is of a clear distinct voice and technical execution, opens on Saturday. Exhibiting artists will include Jose Mertz, Johnny Robles, Ivanco Talevski, Charlie Immer, Morgan Blair, Destroy Rock City, Francesco LoCastro (whose work is pictured here), Reinier Gamboa and Santiago Rubino. The show opens at 8 p.m. Saturday at Morfiq Studio, 279 N.W. 23rd St., Miami.
E
NTWINED @ BAKEHOUSE
Cesar Barroso, Martin Carbajal, Daniel Fila (whose work is pictured here) and Regina Jestrow are the featured artists at at Entwined, an exhibition that includes the works of artists who works were chosen as best in show by curators over the past season at Bakehouse Art Complex. In this show, curated by Lauren Wagner, the artists will explore organic forms and patterns and combine painting, photography, fiber art and street art to create a study of “our surroundings and its natural reoccurrences.” More than 70 artists have studios at Bakehouse, and these openings are a good chance to visit the studios, chat with the artists and see work in progress. Parking is free, and the show opens 7-10 p.m. Friday and runs through April 26 at Bakehouse Art Complex, 561 N.W. 32nd St., Miami.
THEY DON’T CALL HIM RENDA WRITER FOR NOTHING
I remember the first time I ever read about a condition called hypergraphia and wondering if I had it because a) I write a lot, and b) I can sometimes be a bit of a hypochondriac. Then I met 
Renda Writer and realized there are others who get carried away with writing and appreciate the beauty of a fresh, blank notebook. Years ago, I was doing a little feature about people and their jobs and looking for people to talk about what they did for a living. That’s when I got the first Renda Writer e-mail … He was hosting open mikes and working at LaSpada’s Original Hoagies and wrote a really, really long piece about life at the sub shop. Despite the length, it was a quick and fascinating read about the daily life of a sandwich maker and all the characters who inhabit that world. It made you feel like you were right there, and like maybe you wanted to hang out for awhile. I’ve since interviewed him for other stories and have seen the tablets of page after page of writings … Now Renda, who’s known for running WeMerge Magazine and hosting open mikes and art, music and poetry events around South Florida, is going to exhibit some of those writings at The Yellow Exhibit. The reason he’s such a good fit for that show is that he’s known for writing on yellow legal paper. He even has business cards that are a picture of his hand writing on yellow paper. The series he will exhibit includes 15-20 pieces of handwritten art, including stream of consciousness thoughts, poetry, stories and even jokes, all written in blue ink and in very tiny handwriting. The showopens 7-10 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 29 at MyPAC, 3324 N. Miami Ave., Miami.
[HARMONY]
Miami artist Alex Yanes, who has a studio at Bakehouse Art Complex, is having a solo exhibition at Museo Vault. After some fruitful years spent working for clients such as Red Bull, Kleenex and Publix, which recruited Yanes to create its annual calendar for two consecutive years, the painter is returning to his roots. His father and grandfather taught him how to use power tools as a kid, so Yanes and his buddies would get scrap wood from Home Depot and build skateboard ramps they’d turn into a mini skatepark. Graffiti and tattoos also inspired him. Yanes is again wielding his grandfather’s jigsaw, this time to cut images he draws on wood. He sands the cutouts, paints them with acrylic, spray enamel and epoxy resin, and assembles them like a puzzle. He also incorporates painted cutouts onto doors he’s using as canvases, an idea he got when asked to paint live during Art Basel Miami Beach a few years ago. Yanes is the subject of our Fresh Art feature this week, so to learn more about Yanes and his show that opens Saturday at Museo Vault in Miami, see our Fresh Art feature.
MICHAEL COSTELLO @ 101/EXHIBIT
“Joe Davis,” a large oil-on-canvas, is one of 20 works that will be exhibited in the first Florida solo exhibition of Michael Costello, a Boston contemporary realist painter who explores perceptions of sexuality, beauty and maturity in his work. Costello, whose works are in private and public collections including The Kemper Collection, The Federal Reserve and the Abrams Collection, will attend the opening reception 7-10 p.m. Saturday at 101/exhibit, 101 NE 40th Street, Miami. The show will run through May 4. Call 305-573-2101.
RAPTURE
Rapture: A Celebration of Change and Possibilities will feature the work of Natasha Duwin (whose, who will utilize traditionally feminine techniques and non-traditional materials such as metal, and Henning Haupt, a painter who moved to Fort Lauderdale from Berlin two years ago. His works celebrate the rapture of change in the face of ecological disaster. The opening reception is 7-10 p.m. Saturday at Artformz, 171 N.W. 23rd St., Miami. Call 305-572-0040.
MITCH O’CONNELL
Second Coming marks Mitch O’Connell’s return to Miami where he’ll sign collectibles and books (such as Mitch O’Connell’s Tattoos and Collection of Doodles) amid his original paintings. His illustrations have been featured in publications the likes of Newsweek and New York Times and ad campaigns for companies as large as McDonalds to Coca-Cola. According to Harold Golen, O’Connell likes “keeping it real, letting it all hang out, doing his own thing and getting down” but dislikes “gallery owners and art directors who favor artists whose work is “good.” The show opens 7-11 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 1 at Harold Golen Gallery, 2294 N.W. Second Ave., Miami. Call 305-989-3359.
