By Michael Mills
Artists past and present, artists young and old. Artists established, artists on the rise. Artists local and regional, artists national and international. That’s the lineup for the upcoming art season at Broward County’s leading art institutions. Here’s an overview of what you can expect.
NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale: Executive director (and curator) Bonnie Clearwater has been at the helm of the former Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale for a few years now, and she continues to demonstrate her eye for the unusual.
Now under way: Belief + Doubt: Selections from the Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz Collection (through Jan. 22). This isn’t the first time the museum has turned to benefactors Horvitz and Good (an excellent artist herself), but the holdings of one of South Florida’s best-known power-couple collectors are large, varied, and always of interest.
It’s not surprising to find Francesco Clemente: Dormiveglia (Oct. 23-Apr. 23) on the schedule. Clearwater has an interest in the Italian-born Clemente dating back to her days at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. This show is built around nine large-scale oil paintings conceived in 1998, supplemented with other work by the Neo-Expressionist.
With Anselm Kiefer from the Hall Collection (Nov. 29-Aug. 17), Clearwater gives us another favorite, a German titan known for his monumental works addressing big themes. The show also launches the museum’s new “Regeneration Exhibition Series,” emphasizing post-World War II European artists such as Kiefer.
Also on the horizon: Samson Kambulu: Nyau Cinema (Nov. 23-Apr. 23), with films by the Malawi-born, London-based artist. Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road (Feb. 12-June 17) is a solo show by the Ohio-born photographer.
From May 14 through Sept. 3, the museum will stir things up with Some Aesthetic Decisions: Centenary Celebration of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Dada master Duchamp stirred things up himself back in 1917, when he displayed a urinal and called it “Fountain.” The show will include works by Duchamp, John Baldessari, Jeff Koons, and many others.
The NSU Art Museum is at One E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-525-5000. Hours are Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m.; closed Mondays. Free first Thursdays, 4-8 p.m. Admission is $10/ages 18+; $7/seniors 65+ and military; $5/students. Free for members, ages 12 and under, and NSU students, faculty, and staff.
Coral Springs Museum of Art: Like several other South Florida cultural institutions, the Coral Springs Museum is under a relatively new regime, led by executive director Julia Black Andrews, who has long been associated with the museum in other capacities.
The museum launched its new season in September with a retrospective in which the young sculptor Ira Reines translates drawings and paintings by the Art Deco artist Erté into three dimensions. Running concurrently are two solo shows by former Broward artists of formidable talent: latter-day Surrealist painter John Patrick Kelly, now based in Melbourne, and self-described contemporary folk artist JoAnn Nava, now of Lake Worth.
Other artists on the schedule include the Miami abstract colorist J. Steven Manolis (Dec. 3-Feb. 28), the Venezuelan artist Isabel Perez (Dec. 3-Jan. 28), and Ricardo Garcia (from Los Angeles), Martina Rodriguez (another Californian), and Venezuelan Carlos Zerpabzueta (all Dec. 3-Jan. 2).
The Coral Springs Museum is 2855 Coral Springs Drive; 954-340-5000. Hours are Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; closed Mondays. Admission is $6/adults; $5/seniors; $3/students. Free first Wednesdays (except June-Aug.). Free for members and children 5 and under.
Art and Culture Center of Hollywood: The most ambitious show at the center looks to be transphysics: istwa, landscapes, paisajes (Nov. 5-Jan. 8). Curator William Cordova assembles works by an eclectic group of regional artists, including the late outsider artist Purvis Young, and such talents as the impossible-to-categorize Miami artists Karen Rifas, Robert Thiele, and Juana Valdes, and Fort Lauderdale-based Onajide Shabaka.
The center will also offer its eighth All-Media Juried Biennial (Jan. 20-Mar. 5), as well as solo exhibits by the Minnesota-born mixed-media artist Andrew Nigon (Jan. 20-Mar. 5), shape-shifting Miami performance artist David Rohn (Apr.21-June 4), and Mauricio Gonzalez and Charley Friedman (both June 16-Aug. 20).
The Art and Culture Center is at 1650 Harrison St.; 954-921-3274. Hours are Tues.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sat. & Sun., noon-4 p.m.; closed Mondays. Admission is $7/adults; $4/students, seniors, and children 4-17. Free third Sundays. Free for members and children 3 and under.
Stonewall National Museum & Archives: It’s a little-known fact that one of the country’s largest and most comprehensive collections of gay and lesbian literature and cultural artifacts is in Fort Lauderdale. The original Stonewall outpost, at 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd. (next to ArtServe), has long shared items from its vast permanent collection. Meanwhile, the newer Stonewall Museum – Wilton Manors Gallery provides an outlet for traveling exhibits.
Now on view at the gallery: I Am Here: The Lesbian Portraits (through Nov. 6), a series of photographs by Robert Kalan. Then, from Nov. 10 through Dec. 11, First Comes Love, with work by a photographer who goes by the name of B. Proud.
Stonewall’s Wilton Manors Gallery is at 2157 Wilton Drive; 954-530-9337. Hours are Tues.-Sun., 4-10 p.m.; closed Mondays. Admission is free.