Noting that some of the most personal encounters with art come from viewing diminutive-sized works, Carl Hammer Gallery staff member Yolanda Farias has organized a show titled “Small Wonders.” Because of the small scale of the works, the viewer is encouraged to approach and more directly confront a piece, Farias says, adding, “Like the haiku poem, the most meaningful insights are made more eloquent when they exist in the most simple and abbreviated format.
The works from more than 20 artists, some anonymous, that appear in the exhibit are all small, with the tiniest measuring 1 by 1 inch.
Eric Blum’s small oils painted atop blocks of wood present tiny romantic portraits of young girls, made intimate by his technique of covering the oil with a veil of beeswax, which seems to shield the girls’ sweet faces.
Jerry Smith’s boldly colored, detailed gouaches of landscapes with cars are a metaphor for the destruction an industrial society can wreak on its surroundings. Cars are smashed; junk piles rise in the background like a cloud of smoke, and a human figure, often oddly clothed, lurks somewhere in the scene.
Fred Stonehouse presents whimsical collages, and Robert Lostutter’s watercolors and pencil studies for watercolors offer his well-known version of a partly human creature who seems to have sprung as much from nature as from another human being. The show continues through Jan. 3 at 200 W. Superior St.
Taiwanese artist Heinrich Wang has successfully made the transition from actor and film director to glass artist after studying in Detroit. He now claims the title of his country’s leading glass artist.
A number of Wang’s richly colored cast-glass sculptures, made in the tradition of French glass casting known as Pate de Verre, are on view at Habatat Galleries. Because glass is rarely used in Chinese art, Wang was not inhibited by historical precedent. Instead, he has created his own style, which consists of pieces whose forms are very bold and sometimes architectural, whose colors are fully saturated pinks, greens and blues, and whose detailing is a rich assemblage of traditional Chinese symbols, from branches with delicate birds to vases and cups.
“Dragon Lake” consists of a bowl with dragons on each end, “Auspicious Cloud Vessel” resembles an oversized Chinese cup with Oriental handles, and “Rich Emotions” places a branch, birds and cup against a curved fanlike backdrop that some may visually read as a stage, homage to the artist’s former professional life. The show continues until Dec. 30 at 222 W. Superior.
Humberto Calzada, who was born in Cuba and lives and works in Miami, has his first show at the Galeria Amalia Mahoney. His large boldly painted acrylics on canvas and paper recall Mondrian’s vivid geometry and palette, but in a fresh interpretation that reveals a more energetic, slightly realistic architectural style.
“I borrow the ambience from several artists and sometimes incorporate paintings within my paintings, but my colors are always much more tropical, inspired by the intense light I remember from Cuba and see in Miami,” Calzada said.
His patterns are also influenced by Latin American art, which he describes as Baroque and filled with very complicated imagery.
“Minimalism never caught on here,” said Calzada, who worked as an industrial engineer until he decided to pursue painting. “It started as a Sunday hobby, an escape, because I didn’t like my work, but it’s now my full-time profession.”
The show continues through December at 222 W. Superior.