CREATING ORDER FROM CHAOS
According to Gallery Diet, Boston artist Rachel Perry Welty dismembers and reassembles the detritus of our complex social order to create sculpture, video, photography and drawings. Welty operates from the perspective that we’re constantly inundated with images and that this bombardment creates a sense of disorder and makes it difficult to differentiate ourselves from what we see, feel or sense. As an artist, Welty spins the chaos into tidy, compartmentalized works.
The process is one I find comforting, or maybe I’m just feeling that way because I’m drowning in a cyberstack e-mail of art news that I would have shared by now if my Internet hadn’t been down all day. So after doing all the offline writing I could, I came to Dunkin Donuts to use the free-Wi-Fi and break this fat mound of timely art news into tidy little chunks to share with you before the weekend hits. That’s my little way of spinning the chaos …
Rachel Is … Welty’s solo exhibition, will open 6-9 p.m. Friday and 7-9 p.m. Saturday (for Second Saturday) and runs through March 16 at Gallery Diet, 174 N.W. 23rd St., Miami. Call 305-571-2288.
FOUND
Found Object/Found Love: 30 Years of Art with Pablo Cano, an exhibition that follows Pablo Cano’s artistic journey from Baltimore to Miami, will include never-before-seen paintings, sculptures, ceramics and marionettes. The show, co-curated by Anthony Ardavin and Lauren Wagner, opens 7-10 p.m. Friday and runs through March 1 at Bakehouse Art Complex, 561 N.W. 32nd St., Miami. In conjunction with the exhibition, Cano will also present “DOG: A Shadow Puppet Play,” the performance art piece he developed with puppeteer Jim Hammond. It’s the tale of a dog that follows a squeaky red ball through some of the famous artworks throughout history. The show is 2 p.m. Saturday in the Bakehouse’s Main Gallery Project Room and admission is $15 for non-members 13 and up, and free for children.
KEITH CLARK
Missouri-born artist Keith Clark moved to South Florida in 2004 and has since exhibited his work in dozens of shows locally.“On his site, Clark describes his work as Post-expressionistic, explaining, “I like to pull the viewer into my paintings, to discover emotional elements in the voids, not through the forms themselves, but through the texture of the paint, the voracity of the application, the layers of color, and the contrast of light to dark.”
“With You, I’m Still Nothing,” featuring Clark’s art and writings, opens 7-11 p.m. Friday and runs through Feb. 19 at Gallery 101, 3042 N. Federal Highway, in Fort Lauderdale.
5 LIVE
Artist 5, who moved to South Florida from Suffolk, England, considers his art a mixture of his five power points: urban street art, existentialism, dysfunction, abstract and deconstruction. His artistic tools may include such materials as concrete patch, motor oil, drywall compound which he uses to help make his art look weathered, worn and chipped with age. According to Artist 5’s online artist statement, he considers art to be universal, from the bleeding of rust onto an old abandoned car to the print on a billboard, and he also incorporates information about HIV/AIDS into his work. Check out the gallery of works on his Web site, Artist5.com. He’ll be doing live art between 10 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. Saturday at Love Dub at Squeeze at Sea Monster, 2 S. New River Drive West Fort Lauderdale. FTG, Indovisual, Okulus, Jebus, D. Roller and other DJs will provide the groove while Pyro Fusion provides the glow. Call 954-767-6200
RICK VALICENTI
Curiosities: Rick Valicenti & 21st Century Thirst, featuring the Chicago based graphic designer and artist’s works and highlights from Thirst, his graphic design firm that has served clients such as Lyric Opera of Chicago and Motorola, opens 6-9 p.m. Friday and runs through April 3 at Schmidt Center Gallery at Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road in Boca Raton. For more info, visit Fau.edu/galleries or call 561-297-2966.
WHAT WOULD REV. BILLY DO?
Some people will say that handmade goods are too costly to consider, but Rev. Billy, that guy who toured the malls with his Church of Stop Shopping Choir and made a documentary about it a few years back would say that if one stops buying all that crap they don’t need, they might be able to support small indie businesses that make their own products. We’re not sure what he’d say about buying “silly plushies.” But you can mull all that over as you consider whether to drag your wallet over to the Indie Craft Bazaar that will be held 1-6 p.m. Saturday in the courtyard at Cinema Paradiso, 503 S.E. Sixth St., in Fort Lauderdale. Vendors will sell vegan goods and vintage, recycled and handmade items. Admission is $3 and includes a raffle ticket for hourly door prizes. Also, the first 100 visitors get free swag bags. This is the last acceptable day to buy a Valentine’s day present. But if you don’t find that special something, just explain that you’re a full-fledged member of the Church of Stop Shopping.
THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS
It’s a big weekend for indie-crafts in Fort Lauderdale. As the Indie Craft Bazaar at Cinema Paradiso winds down on Saturday…. The Trouble With Girls will be warming up over at the Bubble in Fort Lauderdale. The all-female arts and craft revue, which will feature painters, photographers, vendors, music and burlesque, is open to “anyone who likes art and the women making it.”
Exhibiting artists and vendors at the show sponsored by Terribly Girly, Mayeville and Heartbeats Unlimited, include Janette Valentine, Maytee Bringas, (whose work is pictured here) 666 Photography, Pooka, Lea Vendetta, Polly Peachums, Jennifer D. Basing, Katya Neptune, Stitches Are Forever, Rachel DeJohn, Coma Girl, HumbleBumbleB, With Sugar On Top and burlesque performer Miss Aurora Natrix. The show starts at 6 p.m. and runs until midnight Saturday at The Bubble, 810 N.E. Fourth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Admission is $10 (including complimentary drinks).
BERT AND EARNINGS
“I’ll Cross That Bridge When I Get to It,” a show in which Miami artist Bert Rodriguez will addresses the notions of creating, appraising, selling and buying art, will open Saturday at Fredric Snitzer Gallery. Using the futures market as a model, Rodriguez will make one work a day for 25 days, and the works will be available before they’re created for a set price and displayed at the gallery as they’re produced. In essence, the artist will create a 25-part conceptual work that can only be seen as a whole on the last day of the show, which closes on Tuesday, March 9. The show opens 7-10 p.m. at Fredric Snitzer Gallery,2247 N.W. 1st Place, Miami. Call 305-448-8976.
WILLIE BIRCH
New Orleans native Willie Birch’s solo exhibition “In Search of a Sacred Place,” will also open 7-10 p.m. Saturday at Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, 3550 N. Miami Ave., Miami. For more info, on the show, which runs through April 3, visit Bernicesteinbaumgallery.com.
Overall, it’s another pretty large weekend for art … so go forth and spin the chaos!
