By Sandra Schulman
The gallery scene along Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach is always a treasure hunt. There are gems to be found among the car dealerships and funky diners. Here are three I visited this week, each filled with some of the more unusual sights than the tourist trail usually leads to.
Ink & Pistons
For the punk and piercing set, this hardcore “artist driven” shop is a multi-purpose space that houses a tattoo parlor up front, an art gallery/gift shop called The Slushbox Gallery in the back and a hot rod/motorcycle show once a year.
The tattoo parlor has a full-time staff of artists who will work to develop original designs or help those going under the needle select from their extensive catalog of classic images. Each tat artist has a portfolio of work online. It’s wild imagery ranging from sci-fi to fantasy to religious to monsters. They publish to Instagram under inkandpistonstattoo.
The 2,500 square foot Slushbox Gallery is curated by JR (one of the tattoo artists) and Amanda Linton, whose shows merge the worlds of tattooing, high and lowbrow art and hot rods. The current group show, up through May 2, is Candy Coated Dreams, “a dreamy art show featuring all things sweet, sugary, sparkly, extra fluffy and of course super kawaii!!” by more than a dozen artists and presented in an imaginative installation framed by pastel wall clouds and pompoms.
The next show is The Geek Strikes Back: Nerdcore III, which opens May 9; June will park the annual Anniversary Party, Art Show and Hot Rod Roundup for the summer. Truly unlike anything else in South Florida, Ink and Pistons is a step into another world, merging the cars and vroom of the 1950s with the punk vibe and acid colors of the ’70s and ’80s. What are they rebelling against? Whaddaya got, punk?
Ink and Pistons is at 2716 S. Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach; Inkandpistons.com
Bohemia ArtHaus & Apothecary Gelato
Just off Dixie Highway in Northwood is another hybrid gallery, this funky joint aims for the quirky art and culinary set.
The vibe in this little house with patio out back is dark, twisted art with paintings and sculpture by various artists including Anthony Hernandez — who did the large murals of Lou Reed and Joey Ramone on Clematis Street and the new big baby with puzzle pieces at Okeechobee Boulevard and Interstate 95. Owned by Paul Agnirucklov, Bohemia is open to what he terms the alternative art community, work that might be a bit too outré for, say, the galleries of Worth Avenue.
Gnome-like 4-foot-high sculptures, paintings of tattooed nekid ladies and pieces made of pointy dried acrylic paint make up the current group show. There is a T-shirt line by Bohemia sporting brightly designed apparel and a selection of the underground zines often hard to find in West Palm.
The culinary art comes from the little window on the left, where Paul serves up an astonishing array of exotic-flavored gelatos — Mache Green Tea, Chipotle Chocolate, Hibiscus, Bourbon Butter Pecan, and Carrot & Ginger are just a few of the ever-revolving choices he hand makes in small batches. Tastes of all flavors are happily served up and when you hit the sweet spot you can get a large cup of it.
Sit at a small table out front or in the patio out back and enjoy the very strange view.
Bohemia ArtHaus & Apothecary Gelato, 536 Northwood Road, West Palm Beach
Culpepper Nautical
Open to the wholesale trade only, but free for the public to walk through, Culpepper Nautical on North Dixie Highway has a large unusual selection of salvaged maritime and seafaring objects and collectibles from around the world.
In addition to the ship wheels, portholes, doors, ship lights, anchors, brass signs, rope-covered glass floats, cannons, flags, battered life rings, hand-carved figureheads, and buoys, they carry many items by local artists such as Davis Murphy. Murphy creates one-of-a-kind copper fish and mermaids. They have an unusual collection of brightly hand-painted rudders for canoes from Borneo that have aged into a sculptural beauty.
The owners travel the world several looking for authentic nautical items to decorate restaurants, amusement parks, marinas, architects and builders, theaters, TV/movie production and more.
Culpepper Nautical, 1619 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach; www.culpeppernautical.com