Need another good reason to not stay home and polish up your resume on Friday or Saturday night? How about your choice of 18 South Florida art shows happening this weekend.
GROWING UP
Growing Up, Agustina Woodgate’s one-night “improvised photo/performance” based on the English fairy-tale “Jack and the Beanstalk” will feature Spinello Gallery owner Anthony Spinello as Jack. Check out the video teaser for the show. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and performance begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at Miami-Dade Public Library, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami. Call 305-375-2665
ILLUSTRATED @ BAKEHOUSE ART COMPLEX
Two shows will open Friday at Bakehouse Art Complex. Illustrated, which will will feature work by Bakehouse illustrators JeanPaul Mallozzi (whose oil-on-board titled “The Harpist” is pictured at left), Luis Diaz, Mike Rivamonte (whose work “I Can Fly” is at right), Dan Fila and Hugo Patao, will open in the Audrey Love Gallery. … and in the Bakehouse’s Swensen Gallery Parapraxis , a show in which Rosemarie Romero, Theda G. Redd, Cristina Molina, Samuel Gaultieri and Orlando 
Estrada (whose work is pictured at right) will explore the artistic process of creating meaning through matter and define the mental struggle between intent and bringing one’s work to fruition. Both shows open 7-10 p.m. Friday and run through Oct. 31 at Bakehouse Art Complex, 561 N.W. 32nd St., Miami, 305-576-2828, Bacfl.org.
NEW*ART @ ARMORY ART CENTER
Armory Art Center put out a call to all artists working in all-media for its New*Art exhibition, which is designed to showcase cutting-edge visual art produced after 2008. Ana Fay Rushforth, Armory’s director of gallery services, gathered the works which were judged by Fredric Snitzer of Snitzer Gallery. Show opens 6-8 p.m. Friday and runs through Nov. 13 at Armory Art Center, 1700 Parker Ave., West Palm Beach, 561-832-1776, Armoryart.org. Admission is $5 for opening reception.
THEY DID THE MASH …
Monster Mash, an exhibition of work by Stephanie Rodriguez (whose graphite-and-ink titled “In the Laboratory” is pictured at left) will be on exhibition in the vitrine space of the 924 Building Friday through Nov. 17 at ArtCenter/South Florida at 924 Lincoln Road, Suite 205, Miami Beach, 305-674-8278, Artcentersf.org.
FLOWER POWER II
Flower Power II, which includes 20 new images from the Photographic Flower Art of Brian Trainor (whose work is pictured at right) opens 6-9 p.m. Friday, and runs through Oct. 31 at First National Bank of South Miami, 5750 Sunset Drive, Miami.
FAU FINE ARTS FEST
FAU Fine Arts Festival, a two-day fundraiser for Florida Atlantic Universitys Visual Art and Art History departments will feature art and design works that start at $10 by students, faculty and alumni, as well as food, drinks, theater, music studio and gallery tours and 10 short artist talks each day. The event is part of the 10 to the Power of 10 funding initiative to secure 10,000 donations of $10 to compensate for state budget shortfalls that FAU officials say have left the university’s art department with critical needs. FAU’s Fine Arts Festival will run 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Visual Arts Center and Schmidt Center Gallery at Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton. Call 561-297-3870 or visit Fau.edu/VAAH.
WHEN PETS MOVE ON …
Gingersnap, an exhibition in which artists use illustration and interactive art to explore the loss of pets who have been lost, have died or simply went on to live with someone else, will include work by Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Devin Caserta, Sebastian Castro and Oliver Sanchez, who will exhibit “My Pet Cock,” a portrait of Randy Rooster, the previous resident rooster at Swmpspace. He’s missing. Has anyone seen him?
The show, sponsored by De Victoria’s Interactive Initiative, a foundation that facilitates interactive arts, opens at 7 p.m. Saturday and runs through Oct. 30 at Swampspace, 3821 N.E. First Court, Miami, Swampstyle@gmail.com, Swampspace.blogspot.com.
FARLEY AGUILAR @ SPINELLO GALLERY
The Fates, a solo exhibition by Miami painter Farley Aguilar (whose work “Procession” is pictured here), will feature oil paintings, works on mylar and videos that explore the forces that determine the course of our existence and the effects of an eternal search for the truth that makes sense of it all. In Greek mythology, such forces are represented by three sisters. “Clotho, the youngest, spins your lifeline,” Aguilar explains in a statement about his show. “Lacheses, the middle one, decides the length of your lifeline. Atropos, the eldest, cuts your life thread.”
The main subject in Aguilar’s latest works is Ulf (an old Norse term for wolf), a pawn of fate whose dual nature of wolf and man create contradictions that he cannot grasp. “Shakespeare’s Macbeth had a great influence on the show and Ulf is a stand-in for Macbeth,” notes Aguilar. “The witches, or Fates, conjure up spells on him. He must endure the destiny that has been cast upon him. The show opens 7-10 p.m. Saturday and runs through Nov. 3. at Spinello Gallery,155 N.E. 38th St., No. 101, Miami. Call 786-271-4223 or visit Spinellogallery.com.
LAST CHANCE TO SEE LOVE THY LIBERTY
Friday is the last chance to see Love Thy Liberty, which is billed as an exhibition of artists, performers and filmmakers who offer a positive interpretation of love and liberty during a month darkened by the tragedy of 9/11. Artists will include Vena Paylo (whose painting “At Last” is pictured at left .. and who will be the subject of our Fresh Art section next week), Stephanie Rodriguez and Angelica Clyman of Janus Bridge Art Collective, Niki Lopez, Nerissa Street, Vionette Torres, Lisa Rockford, David Zalben and Lu Gold. The closing reception starts at 7 p.m. Friday at 1310 Gallery at Sailboat Bend Artist Lofts, 1310 S.W. Second Court, Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-729-5794 or visit 1310 Gallery’s Facebook.
GALLERY DIET
Pre-City, a solo exhibition of collaborative works Gean Moreno and Ernesto Oroza’ will preview 6-8 p.m. Friday and open 7-10 p.m. open Saturday and run through Nov. 4. at Gallery Diet, 174 N.W. 23rd St., Miami. Call 305-571-2288 or visit Gallerydiet.com for details.
JESSIE GOLD @ BAS FISHER
Carmela DeSanso is an exhibition by Jessie Gold, a multimedia artist and graduate of the New World School of the Arts. She grew up in Miami but relocated to New York, where she founded SKINT, a dance, art and music collective. Her show at the Bass will meld performance art and painting. The story behind it all starts like this: In search for the largest crustaceans and seashells in the ocean Carmela DeSanso swam through the warmest waters of the Caribbean just south of the equator. Starting in Venezuela she followed the piranhas and the sharks to hidden destinations. But they only ate meat and could not tell her where to find crabs of the darkest blues and seashells of elephantine size. After being shot through a jet stream she ended up in Miami. She then decided to come out of the water and live in a palm tree. The tree provided coconut provisions and iguana lunches. One night while sleeping peacefully her palm frond hammock snapped and she fell to the ground with a hard thump. Jumping immediately to her feet she began to run back towards the ocean. …” To learn more, go to the opening, where Gold will perform intermittently, 7-10 p.m. Saturday. The show runs through late December at Bas Fisher Invitational, 180 N.E. 39th St., Suite 210, Miami, Basfisherinvitational.com.
PEPE MAR’S TIME BOMB
Pepe Mar and Zoi Gaitanidou will each open a solo exhibition at David Castillo Gallery on Saturday night. Time Bomb, Pepe Mar’s third solo exhibition at the gallery, includes works inspired by the artist’s obsession with “thrift store shopping, science fiction, high design and fashion.” The show includes three Papasan chairs transformed into a “supermass,” abstract gold busts made from found cornucopia baskets encrusted in gold leaf and a series of large wooden panels adorned with ceramic masks. Mar (whose work is pictured at left) made the masks after becoming inspired by a mask (made by Jim Clark in 1972) that he found in a thrift store. The exhibition opens with a reception sponsored by Marcy Lefton and 42Blelow Vodka and hosted by Valerie Duardo, buyer and stylist for C. Madeleine’s Vintage Clothing…. And in the Project Room will be the opening of Void. Zoi Gaitanidou’s solo exhibition of tapestry-like canvases in which she employs her techniques of drawing, sewing, cutting and collage, depicts the history of a fictional tribe of humanoids who are living in complete harmony with nature when their world is altered by an encounter with “a ’70s-style space ship that represents the unknown and a primitive naïveté.” Gaitanidou lives in Athens, Greece and her first solo show in the U.S. Both shows will open 7-10 p.m. Saturday and run through Nov. 6 at David Castillo Gallery, 2234 N.W. Second Ave., Miami, 305-573-8110, Davidcastillogallery.com.
ART AND PINK FLOYD INTERPRETATIONS
Life is Flashing Before Your Eyes will feature the art (as pictured at right) by Alexandra Suarez, a performance by dancer Yendi Valdes, musical interpretations of Pink Floyd by Chris Rey, Xela Zaid, Boxwood, The Noumena and Operation Human Mind Expansion and Acid House interludes by DJS Oi and Mr. T. The party starts at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at Vlada Lounge, 3215 N.E. Second Ave., Miami. Call 305-381-5015.
COME HITHER
Come Hither, a show featuring Donna Haynes’ multimedia constructions, Natasha Duwin’s sculptural and wall objects and Mary Larsen’s mixed-media paintings that incorporate books and printed text , opens 7-10 p.m. Saturday and runs through Oct. 30 at Artformz Alternative, 171 N.W. 23rd St., Miami, 305-572-2040, Artformz.net.
- ROB FISCHER‘S QUARRY @ CHAREST WEINBERG
Quarry, Rob Fischer’s solo show, opens 7-10 p.m. Saturday and runs through Nov. 21 at Charest Weinberg,
250 N.W. 23rd St., Space 408, Miami, 305-292-0411, CharestWeinberg.com.
NICK CAVE’S SOUNDSUITS @ NORTON MUSEUM
Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth will have nothing to do with the musician of Bad Seeds fame and everything to do 
with the fiber artist who transforms scavenged materials into the colorful wearable sculptures he calls “soundsuits” (see photo at left by James Prinz) .The show opens Saturday and runs through Jan. 9 at Norton Museum of Art 1451 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach. Call 561-832-5196 or visit Norton.org. Look for my interview with Cave in City Link next week.
SANDRA MUSS & KELLEY ROY GALLERY
Life and Light: Nature’s Passionate Journey, an exhibition of Sandra Muss’s works exploring “the majestic qualities of nature” and “the mysteries of life,” opens 7-10 p.m. Saturday and runs through Nov. 6. at Kelley Roy Gallery, 50 N.E. 29th St., Miami, 305-447-3888, Kelleyroygallery.com
BARGE, O’CONNELL AND THIELE OPENING AT DORSCH
Despite how the headline looks, this show has nothing to do with a law firm. It’s three separate openings at Dorsch Gallery. The Making of a Porous Body will feature new work from sound 
artist Rene Barge (whose work is pictured at right), while 8-Four-9, will feature new works from Robert Thiele and The Illusion of Plans is the title Brian O’Connell’s solo exhibition. The shows will opens 6-9 p.m. Friday with an artist reception, and again from 7-9 p.m. Oct. 9 for Second Saturday, and run through Nov. 13. O’Connell will also present Drawing Seminar: How to Make Your Blue Jeans Blue, a two-hour performative workshop about the indigo plant at 1 p.m. Oct. 9 at Dorsch Gallery, 151 N.W. 24th St., Miami, 305-576-1278. for more details on each show, visit Dorschgallery.com.
For other upcoming art events, please check out our 2010-11 South Florida Art Guide which is updated regularly.
