2010, bad for a lot of people, outstanding for top-level Art.

While millions fret about their jobs, or lack thereof, and governments teeter as they slash expenditures, Christie's reported sales of $5.3 billion dollars for 2010,  a 53%  increase over 2009 (!), and the highest-ever in the Auction House's history. Sotheby's sales report a similar increase over 2009. Buyers for this caliber Art saw opportunity and acted. The entry of wealthy Chinese industrialists into the market has helped drive prices and volume up.

--- Luis


[From the Australian. ]

On Modernism

One of my favorite critics in the area wrote last Sunday about the term "Modernism" being "...the most problematic for me, and I generally avoid using it since I have never been completely sure I know what it means."

That was surprising. Modernism is an often-used (and abused) term in the art world. If one is looking for a monolithic, clear style or philosophy there, it will lead to disappointment. Anything encompassing from the around 1860 to the 1970's is going to cover a lot of ground, styles and movements. In this case, one of the most prolific periods in Art History. Modernism emerged as a reaction to the obsession in painting with Realism, with the Enlightenment, and Religion. 

It was a hopeful time that turned to despair and disassociation after WWs I and II. At times humanistic, peaceful, and with the Futurists (Marinettti), poetic, Fascist, Corporatist and Pro-War. It's complicated, but well-worth learning because it's an historically significant concept, and once understood, quite useful.

For a great first read on Modernism, I recommend "The Shock of the New",  by Robert Hughes (it was also a TV series, btw). Click here.

--- Luis

This (Pirated) Weekend: Jan 28th - 30th.

 It's that time of year again...I wonder what the Kumquat Festival is like...

Glorious Days and Nights, A Jazz Memoir. Herb Snitzer @ Tampa Museum of Art - One of St. Petersburg's living treasures, photographer Herb Snitzer, is showing work from his series on famous Jazz musicians, and new book, "A Jazz Memoir", at TMA. Reception on Sunday, 1/30, he will be on hand to sign copies of his book, 1:00 PM. Runs through May 15th. TMA, 120 W. Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, 813.274.8130. Museum hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Friday from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.; and Sat and Sun from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. $10 admission.
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Sweet 16 Art Show @ The Bricks -  An "Alice in Wonderland" themed art party and show with 16 artists' works on display. The works are said to be on the large side. The Bricks, 1327 E. Seventh Ave, Ybor City. 813.247.1785. Starts @ 9:00 PM Friday, January 28th.
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Meet The Artist: Ken Roberts @ Craftsman House - Roberts, who is from Kentucky, brings his sculptures to Craftsman House. Appetizers will be served, and he will talk and field questions. Free. 2-5PM Saturday, 1/29. 2955 Central Avenue. St Petersburg.
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British Romantics to Moderns @ Museum of Fine Arts - Romantics to Moderns, British Watercolors and Drawings from the collection of BNY Mellon. Monday-Saturday, 10 AM - 5 PM. Sunday, Noon to 5 PM.255 Beach Drive, St Petersburg. Admission $17 for adults. $15 Seniors, $10 Students (bring student ID).
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Floridiana Festival & Highwaymen Art Show @ Garden Club of St Petersburg - Kitsch, souvenirs, memorabilia, and yes, I wouldn't be listing this here if it wasn't for the fact that they're showing paintings by the Highwaymen, and some will be on hand, exhibiting and selling their works. They'll have Weeki Wachee Mermaids, too (!). Garden Club of St Petersburg, 500 Sunset Drive. 727.421.0441 10 AM - 5 PM Saturday, January 29th. Admission: $6. This caught my eye: $3 for kids under age three. 
Ahem.
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Corey Area Art & Craft Festival - The 17th Show in a very attractive area of St. Petersburg Beach, with enough beachy restaurants and bars on the periphery for recovery. Free. Corey Avenue in downtown St Pete Beach.
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Beth-El Art Festival - This is their 38th year, and it has stood the test of time by showing above-average art and being well-organized. I've been to this one several times and can assure you it is worth your time. It is set up inside the Beth-El Temple, so weather is never an issue (though parking can be).
Temple Beth-El, 400 Pasadena Ave, St Petersburg. Sunday, 1/30th, 11AM - 5 PM, Monday, 1/31st, 10 AM - 5 PM. Free.

There's a preview cocktail party on Saturday, 1/29th, 7 - 10 PM. Admission for that is $20 at the door.
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FREE Day @ Children's Museum - Target foots the ticket bill for free entry to the museum on Tuesday, Feb 1st, from 4PM - 8PM. 110 W. Gasparilla Plaza.  Your children, including your inner ones, will thank you.
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FREE Day @ Tampa Museum of Art - Hill Ward Henderson Law Firm makes this possible from 4-8 PM Fridays (including tomorrow, 1/29).  Another free opportunity to see some of the best art exhibits in the area. 120 Gasparilla Plaza. Talk about a cheap date. Go!
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Theo Wujcik Transformations @ State College of Florida - Basically the Transformations show previously shown in St. Pete at the Morean and Mindy Solomon Gallery, but if you missed it or want to see it again, it's there. SCF Gallery Jan 28th to Feb 24th. Opening reception on Friday, 1/28 6- 8 PM. Hours Mon-Fri 10 AM - 3 PM. Gallery is in Building 11, next to the Neel Performing Arts Center at SCF Bradenton. 5840 26th Street West, Bradenton. 941.752.5225.
www.scf.edu


--- Luis
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Observations on The Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime @ C. Emerson Fine Arts

[On January 13th, I posted here on Kant's (and others') ideas on the Beautiful and the Sublime to help prepare gallery goers -- and myself -- for the current show at C. Emerson Fine Arts. ]

"The sublime moves, the beautiful charms."

Lori Johns chose this minimal and concise Kant quote for her introduction to the show.

There are thirteen artists shown, their works in a wide variety of media.Normally I would focus on the work of three or four, but this time will touch briefly on half the artists.

[In reverse alphabetical order...]

Joe Walles' personal work is focused on what he calls "the unadulterated moment", photographing in a classic spontaneous manner, using black-and-white film, Leicas, making his own chemical prints. In this show there's a print  titled (if memory serves) Saint Augustine Gate, showing an old, weathered gate to a garden or backyard, surrounded by impenetrable shadows with a sliver of a house on the left side of the print. The feel is that approach-avoidance thing we encounter when nearing a rite of passage.
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It was a dictionary definition of "sublime" that led Doug Sutherland to his interpretation of the theme. He has been working with a figure he calls Robo-Christ, a Deus-Machina figure with a kind of postmodern cargo-cult attendant myth. The artist chose to use the definition of water going from a solid (ice) to gas (vapor) without undergoing the transitional state of water. AT has seen his work before at CEFA and the Scarfone/Hartley gallery at UT.

See his work here.
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Rebecca Skelton sculpts, paints and draws. She has drawings in this show, moving, expertly rendered drawings of truncated, mostly feminine figures. They are like incomplete grotesques. Click here to see a slide show.
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Daniel Mrgan is a Croatian-born illustrator, well-known for his wood-burning art, particularly his """Sick Days"   series, shown last year at CEFA. In this exhibit, he has a wood-burning of an elderly couple sitting on a bench, grown into each other, the woman's arm wrapped around the man's. Mrgan has an ability to simultaneously focus on the body while transcending it.
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Patrick Maxcy is a Floridian working out of a Ft. Lauderdale studio. He has five small, direct and engaging paintings in this show, each of a woman friend, depicted with an animal. I got the feeling that the animals could be a nagual.
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Human exploitation gone viral is a central theme of Michael Massaro's work. His mixed media piece in this show is a fixture-like vertical round ceramic base with a rubber hose attached to it, and from the open lower end of that hose, dry, dead grass flows. See here.
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Patrick Lindhardt is an instructor at Ringling and printer, who at one time printed projects for Dine and Rosenquist. His panoramic-format prints in this show are of the American prairie. There are haystacks in black and white before a gathering storm in the background. Two tornadoes in different images, one black and ominous, the other almost spiritual, beautiful -- and in its own way, ominous. Another is of a storm and on the right, a bit of a water tank. The sfumato feeling in the one with the dark tornado is exquisite. See here.
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Dan Lassata, who besides being a painter is a skateboarder and golf pro, began drawing and painting at an early age in his native new Hampshire, sometimes using skateboards as his canvas. AT saw his first local show back in 11/10 at the Kahwah cafe. He cites as influences Kandinsky, Shel Silverstein, M.C. Escher and Thomas Campbell. His work in this show has to do with the energies that surrounds us.
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Kyle (that's it for his name) has works from a series titled "Pretty Catastrophes", exploring how relatively small incidents can have significant, large-scale consequences (see Chaos Theory). He has a piece along the wall of the CEFA gallery facing the front window that has multiple points of view, ergo perspectives of different scenes. This is very much like religious medieval paintings that told Bible stories in a near-comic-book fashion, minus the frames. Kyle's, unlike medievals', is commutative, and visually reads like hypertext. You can start anywhere and make your own path, thread, and/or story through it.
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Mia Kaplan's paper sculptures are unusual and captivating. It took me a little contemplation to grasp their unbridled passions, and it was well worth it. They are simultaneously delicate-looking, yet strong. Evolving, unfolding, and expanding -- like life. See here.
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Relief prints of tree rings as metaphors for life make for moving prints in the work of  Wendy Dickinson, PhD. She teaches Visual Mathematics at Ringling. She co-curated a show with Patrick Lindhardt at the Centre Gallery in 2010. These prints are a wonderful mix of the graphic and the organic. 
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 UT professor Gil de Meza's sculpture in this show is a gold-ish ceramic rectangle with a cream circle in it with a bit of blue. At the bottom of which is what looks like s broken off spigot (?)  Atop the rectangle is a blue form wrapped in gauze and twine.
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Neverne Covington showed a pair of small, beautifully lyrical paintings about a symbiosis between reality and the imagination. The two works come across like a dyptich. I hope they get to stay together.
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Raina Benoit has been working on a new American Gothic. In her own words, "a grotesque that grows from complexity, how well everything has worked so far". Two Ravens, a manatee floating with multiple levels of water below, and a human heart with clogged pipes around it. As Ms. Benoit has on her website

“In a sense everything is realistic. I see no line between the imaginary and the real.

I see much reality in the imagination.” -- Federico Fellini

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David Audet is a seminal figure in the Tampa arts scene who works at HCC/Ybor. He and his crew(s) put together a series of remarkable arts events on a yearly basis. In this show he has a work composed of vertically movie film strips, one minute from "The Lady and the Tramp", at an angle (think of a pointy-side-down triangle). In the space defined by its edges, hang medium-format negatives from portraits shoots of women in their sleeved pages. A commentary on the mathematical and the dynamic sublime.
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--- Luis

CEFA's "Observations" is an engaging, multifaceted show wrapped around a complex theme, with many variations. Observations on The Feeling of The Beautiful and The Sublime - Thematically based on the famous book by Emmanuel Kant. A multimedia group show. C.Emerson Fine Arts Gallery, 909 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg.  January 14 - March 25, 2011. For hours, call  727-898-6068 or check:

www.c-emersonfinearts.com

Heaven and Earth: Personal Icons @ Mindy Solomon Gallery

The word "icon" comes from the Greek word for "image", "persona", "portrait".
 

The religious icon, as we know it in Western Art, formally congealed in the Byzantine Empire (through connections to Greek icons) around the 5th century. The conflict between the Judaic anaiconism, as in the second Commandment, regarding graven images, and the religious icon was a serious problem. It led to the iconoclasms of the 8th & 9th centuries in the Byzantine Empire. The Second Council of Nicea resolved the problem with technical lingo worthy of a contract lawyer. 


"Icons are reminders of the spiritual world. They are windows into eternity, a holy space depicting sacred reality in the course of humanity" -- Tom Tsagalakis

Icons weren't always housed in churches. As Christianity spread, there would be outlying areas where no churches existed, and traveling priests would make their routes around these territories, arriving in one spot, marry people, baptize new arrivals, say Mass, consecrate the dead and more, all in one stop. Since there often wasn't a sacred space in these places (and no manpower/money, and sometimes no inclination  to build a church), these priests traveled with small, folding icons that served to signify a temporary sacred space. 

They also played the role of mass media, projecting a story/doctrine that everyone was familiar with in the established Christian territories, and as a teaching/colonizing tool in the outlying territories -- all in a human context, often one that had contemporary elements.

Patrick McGrath Muniz [Link] has looked at these icons and recontextualized them into the present, incorporating consumer culture into the iconic style and expressing his concerns about the myths surrounding colonial aspects of globalization, imigration, breast enlargement surgery/identity and many other issues.

"Today there are  many myths about beauty, culture, art, justice, war,  sex, food, energy and many other issues that consciously aware artists should address in their work. ... I find the world of myth infinite in sources for inspiration." -- Patrick McGrath Muniz

See his work here.

Gabriel Parque is a 3-D Technical Assistant at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and a sculptor. In the Icons show @ MSG, his sculptures are from the "Blessing" series. Here is one. They consist of coil-built, stone-ware, white-painted figures of what appears to be a fetal or newborn Jesus figure, identifiable via either the blessing mudra (hand-gesture) or the small icon they hold in the other hand of the world with a large golden cross on it. The fetal ones have prominent umbilical cords literally grounding and connecting them to Mother Earth [Link], the world the Father made.

The Einar and Jamex de la Torre work showing currently at MSG is in the form of fused glass and mixed media. This a very, very different kind of sculpture from the usual swirling, amorphous and occassionally pointy glass.  This is narrative glass, rich in cultural iconography, telling intensely personal stories from the area around the border, and not just the border between the US and Mexico, but that between this Life and the Next, with the yonic gateway at the center of many; Green Earth Mother with ear of yellow corn vaginal lips. Yellow guns with toys floating in them, around another vaginal opening with blue lips, a background rich with more details, and festooned with large marble-sized clear glass. Others look like Mayan calendars, invoke totems, naguals, lucha libre figures, and more. Besides being extraordinary, emotion-provoking personal icons, these pieces are superb contemplative objects of beauty that can stand scrutiny at any viewing distance.

I met Jordon Meinster at an MSG opening and liked him immediately. We talked about the art. His fluency in art history and passion for art are breathtaking. But until this exhibit, I had no idea he is a painter. Quite a painter. "The Resurrection" , which curiously depicts the crucifixion, is an emotional torrent of line and color in acrylics and oil pastels on paper. There is a female figure on the lower left, hand raised in the "He is risen" gesture of pointing at the sky, and she is a wide-hipped, large-breasted Earth Mother like a prehistoric stone Venus. Another one, with hair the same color as the cross -- gold -- ministers to the crucified figure, one hand by the wound caused by Longinus' spear, the other by his genitals.

The man/God on the Golden Cross is frozen in an esctatic moment of revelatory pain, his face looking like some in the paintings of Francis Bacon. Around the top of the cross is a familiar green figure from the story. We know him in a different guise from His first appearance in the story, in Paradise, where he tested and bested the Ancestors. We see him when we visit the Doctor, wrapped entwined with his Other around the staff of Hermes that forms the caduceus, which goes back to Egypt and before that to India where it is associated with the Kundalini rising. In Western mythology, we know him as Ouroboros, the snake eating His own tail. He is the sundial, the face of the clock, and more, and in this painting, he is behind the crucified picture, around the golden cross, reaching for his own tail, circling the square (ok, rectangle) of the cross. We are at the imminent passing of an age, a personal and universal one. Like many cave paintings, the coiling, pungent-green figure is rendered in X-ray fashion. Looking inside his body, we can see prior ages in the process of digestion in his gut. He, and we, have been here before.

This isn't just the story of a Man-God from two Millenia ago. This a personal resurrection, of the artist and the viewer (this means you) through the crucible of the body, its pain and passions, the meeting of earth and heaven.



--- Luis

Mindy Solomon Gallery, 124 2nd Ave NE. St. Petersburg. Wed-Sat 11 AM-5PM.

Ps. If you go, there are two "hidden" must-not-miss things at the Mindy Solomon Gallery. There is a work that is invisible no matter how hard you peep through the windows. Go inside, when you get to the desk, turn to look back through the windows. Slightly to the left is a column. Hanging from it is a vertical video installation by Becky Flanders that is not to be missed. Second, ask Mindy or Sharon if you can see the two other works by Jordon Meinster hanging in the back room.

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This Weekend: Jan 21st-23rd

Artists Choose Artists @ Artful Living/Rob Davidson Fine Art - Interesting concept: Choose artists, and each gets to choose one more. Guest curator: Paula Allen. Saturday, January 22nd, 1100 First Ave N. @ 7:00 PM. Free.

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I love St. Pete @ Artpool - The Annual art, music and fashion event at Marina Williams' Artpool multitasking space. The Irressistible Force that is Ms. Williams is one of the best city boosters any city could have. The fashion show by Pink Cricket's Sarah Turner promises to be Green (ecologically!).   Saturday, January 22, 7PM - 12 AM. Artpool Gallery & Vintage Boutique. 919 1st ave. North. Tickets $10 before date, $15 @ the door.

artpoolgallery.com

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The Isolation of Intimacy. Ben Hamburger @The Studio 620 - Painting installation at Studio 620, 620 1st Ave. South. Opens Thursday, January 20th, @ 6 - 9 PM. Free. Runs through February 8th. There will be a closing reception on Feb 4th from 6-8 PM.

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Electronics Alive VI @ University of Tampa's Scarfone/Hartley Gallery - Opening Reception Friday, January 21st, 7 - 9 PM. Closes Feb 24th. 310 N. Boulevard. Free.

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Sacrosanct @ West Tampa Center for The Arts Gallery - Theme is works that are above change, criticism or interference (what a dare!). Multimedia. Resdient artists' studios will be open to visitors. 1906 N. Armenia Ave. Music by DJ Fuego, appetizers and a cash bar. $3. 7PM Friday, January 21st 

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Cirque Du Surreal and Peep Show @ Salt Creek

The Gulf Coast Artist's Alliance (GCAA) is a non-profit organization based in the Tampa Bay area whose emphasis is in linking artists, arts organizations and art lovers. They staged the combined Cirque du Surreal and the "naughty" Peep Show (nudes).

The show was at one of St. Peterburg's greatest spaces for art, Salt Creek Artworks (SCA), a canal-front large building with a huge gallery space in the front of the ground floor, and a warren of artists' studios, many bigger than some local galleries behind that, and on the 2nd floor.

One of the things that makes the GCAA great is that they recognize that many of their members are multi-talented, as a result, there were poets, musicians, story tellers, dancers, etc. performing in the back half of the SCA gallery. There was no shortage of enthusiasm from the participants at this show.

Buying a GCAA membership as a "Visual Artist" entitles you to get into at least four shows yearly, including the Cirque du Surreal show. While this is very democratic & great for members, it also guarantees that the overall quality and thematic coherence of the show will be inconsistent. This is one of those shows where a viewer has to do a lot of sifting, because the quality can -- and does -- dip significantly.

A few standouts in the show: "Bird and Skull", by Eric Beckur, a very realistic and moving acrylic painting, a glowing nude seen through windowed doors, "Nu Dans l'Aterlier", by William Wegmuller, a wire Mermaid sculpture titled "Modern Mermaid", by Brandy Star, and too many others to mention here.

It was a lively show, what with belly dancers, a tuba player, poets, character actors, artists that dressed up, some in the spirit of the Peep Show. I thoroughly dislike the whole Jurassic idea of segregating the nude and erotic art into a curtained corner, and the name the GCAA has given it. Maybe they should have walled it off and provided peep holes to view it through. As it was, there was no one watching the entrance, and a minor could have easily strolled in -- as they always have into peep shows.

The security guard at the event allowed the entry-exit lanes in the parking lot to be blocked by a few  thoughless ****s, and several people were stuck in the parking lot, unable to leave until one kind soul moved his car.

AT 's best part of the evening was spent in the studios behind the scenes with three artists well worth visiting: Girard Louis Drouillard, Mike Conway, and Paula Allen, aka "Polly Zoom". Drouillard creates exquisite abstract works on stressed metals that have other materials glued onto the surface, which he also paints. He is a multi-talented artist, too, and has work in several galleries. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Conway, a multimedia artist working with large, B&W, hand-colored prints. Mike, who's a very sociable fellow, set up some chairs and hosted an impromptu conversation of people getting to know each other and talking about art. "Polly Zoom" is the nom d' pinceau of Paula Allen, a charming, affable painter who, btw, will be showing at the upcoming "Artists Choose Artists" show at the venue formerly known as Artful Living, now upscaled to Davidson Fine Arts this coming weekend.

It was a wonderful evening.

--- Luis

Wearable Art @ Florida Craftsmen Gallery in St. Pete.

Confession time: I'm not fashion-conscious (or subconscious!). Last night, AT attended the opening for the fourth Wearable Art show at Florida Craftsmen. The place was packed with well-dressed local fashionistas, and for good reason. The custom-made dresses, hats, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc. shown are first-rate. The space they are shown in is well-designed, too.

The show is going to be up for weeks, so if you're interested in fashion, here's a chance to see some of the best in this area.

--- Luis

Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime by Emmanuel Kant

In 1764, when Emmanuel Kant was 40 years old, he wrote a little,124 page book by this title that would become famous. It is the theme of the show opening at C.Emerson Fine Art Gallery. this Friday, Jan 15th 2011. In no way is this meant to be a synopsis, only a helpful guide for the gallery-goer who may not be familiar with this book. Kant divided the book into four sections.

 He specifies his approach, which is through the "finer feelings". There are two kinds: The Beautiful and the Sublime. Both pleasant, but different. He defines the Beautiful as feelings that "occasion a pleasant sensation but one that is joyous and smiling." The Sublime as a feelings that "arouse enjoyment but with horror."

The Sublime feeling is sub-divided into three kinds: The terrifying sublime, often involving dread or melancholy. The noble sublime as quiet wonder, and the splendid sublime which is rife with beauty. These two feelings can and often do overlap. In the theater, Tragedy is on the Sublime side, and Comedy on the side of Beauty. Human nature shows many aspects pertaining to either. For example, the Beautiful has its degenerate facet, which in us produces triflers, fops, dandies, chatterers, silliness, bores, and fools.

 "A profound feeling for the beauty and dignity of human nature and a firmness and determination of the mind to refer all one's actions to this as to a universal ground is earnest, and does not at all join with a changeable gaiety nor with the inconstancy of a frivolous person."

Kant saw human temperament as fixed and separate character. In gender terms, women are with the Beautiful, men with the Sublime. Together, they form one "moral person". He also thought that different nationalities weighed in at varying points on this continuum. He applied this to space, in that positive space, like mountains, were Sublime, valleys, Beautiful. And Time, too. Long durations are Sublime. Short, Beautiful.
The Past is the Noble Sublime, but the Future Terrifying. The Beautiful is identified with the senses. The Sublime is more concerned with nature and art.

Seven years before Kant, Edmund Burke, another philosopher, wrote an essay on the Beautiful and the Sublime. For him there was little or no overlap between the two. In a latter essay, Kant described the Sublime as: "Purposiveness without Purpose"

In Art, the Picturesque served as a middle ground between the Beautiful and the Sublime, particularly in the context of 18th century British Landscape Painting. This also found its way into Literature, as in Milton's Paradise Lost, and in poetry, in Wordsworth. It also influenced many other things and people, including Frederick Law Olmstead's parks landscaping

Artist, writer and critic Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe wrote a book titled: "Beauty and the Contemporary Sublime" in 1999. He posits the notion that the Sublime can only be expressed by technology nowadays, and Beauty is relegated to glam and frivolity, not the virtues expressed by Kant and Burke. Gilbert-Rolfe analyzes the role of these two principles in media by relating the Sublime, Beautiful and Picturesque to the different ways media covered 9/11.

Writer Alexander Ross further breaks this down into the Sublime as the Real, the Beautiful as the Ideal, and the Picturesque as reconciling the two.

The Sublime and the Beautiful have been the source of endless philosophical discourses (and arguments) and Art essays and analyses. Largely out of that tradition emerged our current aesthetics. It is the way we use language about our feelings and experience of a thing(s). Since most media are at some level about communicating or shaping experience, this is of pivotal importance in the arts.

--- Luis

[Again, this does not begin to do justice to Kant, Burke, et al, or the great number of philosophers, artists critics and writers that have addressed this issue for over a century. I encourage anyone who is interested in this to read Kant's book.

This Weekend: Jan 14th-16th

Observations on The Feeling of The Beautiful and The Sublime - Thematically based on the famous essay by Emmanuel Kant. A multimedia group show that holds great promise. C.Emerson Fine Arts Gallery, 909 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg. Opening reception is Friday, Jan 14th, 6-9 PM.
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Cirque Du Surreal @ Salt Creek - Nude and erotic art. Belly Dancers, Solo Tuba player (?).  What? No body painting? Seriously, 20 artists, 100 works, Surrealism a la Dali, music, and erotic poetry. The Peep Show will be in a curtained corner of the space. Saturday, 15th of January, 5-11 PM Saturday, at Salt Creek Artworks, 1600 Fourth St. South, St. Petersburg. $5 in advance, $8 at the door.
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(Two Shows) 1) Paradise Lost/Paradise Found 2) Disappearing Florida @  Morean Arts Center - The state of the State according to a wide variety of artists. The former is multi-media, the latter are landscape photographs. Saturday, Jan 15th through March 13th. $5.
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Art to Wear @ Florida Craftsmen Gallery - Fashions improvised from unusual materials. Vintage wear, some recontextualized. The students and faculty of International Academy of Design & Technology, Bayshoire High School and Arts Academy and Tampa Bay Surface Design Guild bring their talent to the Craftsmen Gallery for this show. Opening reception Friday, Jan 14th @  5:30 PM. Florida Craftsmen Gallery, 501 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg. Through February 26th.
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The Arguillet Dali Collection - Dalimania spreads through the area, in this case in the form of Pierre Arguillet, Dali's Publisher's collection in two shows one on each side of the Bay at Michael Murphy Galleries. Pierre's daughter, Christine, will be at the St Pete gallery at Baywalk on Jan 21-22, and at the Tampa one Jan 22-23. Free, but RSVP required. Call 1.888.513.8385. Michael Murphy Gallery, 2701 S. Mc Dill Ave. Tampa.
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The Central Avenue Project @ 620 Annex

Central Avenue is the backbone of St Petersburg, leading from the waterfront glitz across the city west, through many divergent areas, some thriving, others barely hanging on, nine miles in all ending at Boca Ciega Bay. The Florida Photographic Collective, a comunity-minded group founded in 2009 by ten photographers, James Anderson, Tim Fritz, Terri Gross, Heather Hickman, Marion Krauthammer, John Mazzello, Eric Seibert, Anne Rogers, Marshall Seiden & Cindy Vicker. Some familiar names are cited as having influenced many of the members of the Collective, names from the Morean/Arts Center staff. The members have completed a project documenting Central avenue and its people. The results are being shown at the 620 Annex gallery.

You can see them here.

AT was at the opening reception on Friday, which was well-attended, and most or all (?) of the photographers were there. The photography is in the documentary style, personal and intensely exploratory.

Through January 29 2011. Crislip Arcade, 645 Central Avenue St. Petersburg. Open Weds-Sat Noon-6 PM.

--- Luis

Call for Artists @ ARTPOOL

Artpool has an open call for artists until January 15th to be a part of the I Love St. Pete Show. It's the 5th celebration of the city's art culture. The call is extended to all fashion designers and DJs as well. If interested, call Marina Williams @ 727.324.3878. Fine artists get 1-3 works in the show for $30. Each additional work is $5. No commissions, all sales go to artist. Tickets to the opening for visitors are $10 in advance until 1/21, the show is on 1/22/11.
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This Weekend: Jan, 7th -9th

Personal Icons @ Mindy Solomon Gallery - Like religious icons, only individuated. Seven Artists will be shown. I have it on good insider authority this is a hot show. Opening Saturday, Jan 8th, at 6 PM at Mindy Solomon Gallery, 124 2nd Ave. NE, St Petersburg. Free
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Central Avenue Project @ 620 Annex - Ten Florida Collaborative photographers show work focusing on the living tapestry that is Central Avenue. Opens Saturday, Jan 8, at 6-9 PM, 620 Annex, 645 Central Ave St Peterburg. Ends 1/31. Free.
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Ybor Art Colony Open House - Twelve Studios open their doors for this monthly event. Live music, beer and wine available. Free, but donations are welcome. AT likes the ambiance, people and art at the Colony.
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Members Only Dali Opening - New Dali Museum opens its doors to members only. Sunday, January 9th, 11AM - 5PM. At One Dali Blvd. St. Petersburg. Yearly memberships are $40 for students & teachers, $60 for individuals, and for famlies, $90.

Public Grand Opening of the New Dali Museum - Tuesday, 1//11/11, 9:30AM-4PM. At 9:30, there will be a procession starting at the old museum, and ending at the new one. If you like to watch royalty, between 11AM & 3PM, Infanta Cristina, and other royals will be there for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Admission $21 for adults, for opening day, timed tickets must be pre-purchased.

AT want to take this opportunity to welcome the new Dali to the community and wish it continued success. The building looks great.
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Gulfport Art Walk - 40 artists and craftsmen in this pleasant sidewalk art show.  Lots of good eats and bars along the route. On Beach Blvd., Jan. 7th, 6-10 PM
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Downtown Dunedin Art Festival - I its 14th year, this juried show is in a beautiful setting. 10 AM- 5PM, Main Street, Dunedin. Free.
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St. Petersburg Art Walk - go to: stpetearts.org and get a list of participating galleries. 5-8:30 PM

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Resources: Calls for Artists - Events and venues to exhibit your work.

Looking for contests  & places to exhibit your work? Calls for artists are going on every day. Here's a few places to look for those who are looking for venues:

The Hillsborough County Arts Council Site has this.

For more nationwide juried shows, check artshow.com.

Also nationwide, scroll down a bit for some central Florida events here

More Floridian Calls for Artists from the Cultural Council [Link]