Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

An array of art

By LENNIE BENNETT
Published November 3, 2005

In addition to Art Harvest, a number of museums and galleries open new shows during the weekend. Whether your taste runs to the avant-garde or the traditional, you'll find art to enjoy. Here's a sampling.

Peter Max's art has become so iconic as to be a brand or a shorthand for 1960s pop culture. The graphic suaveness and brilliant colors, the ability to transfer the complexities of an era into simple, immediately identifiable images made Max famous 40 years ago and have earned him an ongoing cult following. A show at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg celebrates Max's take on the Woodstock generation and the turbulent, rollicking decade surrounding it. And keep in mind that another Peter Max show opens Nov. 11 at the Arts Center.

"Peter Max" at the Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg, opens Saturday with vintage posters and prints and this new one, above, that Max created for the Imagine fundraiser Nov. 18 to 20, which will benefit educational programs at the Museum, Arts Center and Soulful Arts Dance Academy. He will also be in town Nov. 20 for a talk at the Museum. "Peter Max" is a small show compared to another one opening Saturday at the museum, "Art, Love and Life in the Village: Weegee's Wild New York." It's the first time this group of 53 photographs, a gift of Dr. Robert L. and Chitranee Drapkin, has been exhibited locally. (727) 896-2667.

The Contemporary Art Museum at the University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave., Tampa, puts its signature cerebral touch on the underground movement known as Street Art and the closely related Skateboard Art in "Beautiful Losers," which opens Friday with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Featured are Ryan McGuinness, whose painting, Ambitious Outsiders, is shown above; Clare E. Rojas; Barry McGee, who was the subject of a segment in PBS's excellent recent series "Art in the 21st Century"; Shepard Fairey; and Stephen Powers. A symposium from 10 a.m. to noon Friday includes McGuinness and curators Aaron Rose and Christian Strike. The Beautiful Losers Film Series from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Tampa Theatre screens feature-length and short films related to graffiti, hip-hop and skate cultures. All events are free. For information, go to www.arts.usf.edu

Two high-voltage gallery shows open Saturday at Covivant and Redletter1, both in Tampa.

Covivant for years was a renegade voice in the mainstream gallery wilderness, exhibiting artists who jolted, provoked and nudged us off-center. Its owner, Carrie Mackin, hung on when others of its ilk came and went. "A Sweet Kiss Goodnight" at Covivant Gallery, 4906 N Florida Ave., Tampa, features the neo-pop mix she is noted for. Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters have new paintings, installations and mixed media works; Rob Schwager, whose day job is working on the art for Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and the X-Men comic books, will exhibit new cyanotypes (a type of photographic print process) and mixed media illustrations. And Mackin, who has not had time to make her own art for several years, is back with a series of photographs, such as Cherry Cherry Whine. An opening party is from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday with music by Vera Violets, Zillionaire and Glitter Gun. Admission is $5. The exhibition continues through Dec. 4.

For regular gallery hours, call 813 234-0222 or go to www.covivant.com Redletter1, 1510 E Eighth Ave., Tampa, is a newcomer, part of a welcome renaissance of art galleries in Ybor City. "Neighborhood Watch" brings together Bask and Tes One, two engagingly disruptive artists who coax ironic, witty, often troubling messages from appropriated images and texts in their paintings and mixed media works such as Tes One's Untitled. In "Neighborhood Watch," they take on city life. It's street art, graffiti and graphic design transferred to panel and canvas. An opening party is from 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday. The show continues through Dec. 10. For information, call (813) 241-2435 or go to www.redletter1.com

[Last modified November 2, 2005, 12:06:07]