The season's best art shows

Art Basel returns to Miami with famous names and gobs of cash, but this year, local artists will shine, says critic Elisa Turner.

By Elisa Turner

The high point of the upcoming year in visual arts in South Florida continues to be Art Basel Miami Beach in early December. The local influence of North America's pre-eminent contemporary art fair continues to expand, so much so that for the first time, Art Miami will now take place in early December in Wynwood, rather than in January, a move that may prove a smart survival tactic for the 17-year-old fair.

This year, rather than glass artist Dale Chihuly, who has exhibited for two years running, youll find a dozen or so sculptures by renowned Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein installed throughout Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Lichtenstein at Fairchild, with loans from private collectors in Florida and the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation in New York, is up Dec. 8-May 31.

Museums, private collections and galleries (both commercial and not-for-profit) often save their best shows for early December to attract the international, jet-setting crowd of contemporary art collectors, but some in Miami's art scene are getting more savvy about using this week to spotlight talent percolating in and around Miami.

LOCAL ARTISTS

The strategy is two-fold: Put home-grown talent on the international art world map and make those in town more aware of artists in their midst. For starters, consider this show with the flippant, punning title: Miami Contemporary Artists: Creating a Scene at the ArtCenter/South Florida from Nov. 28-Jan. 6. Curated by Gean Moreno, an artist, critic and curator long active here, it's a broad survey of contemporary artists who helped shape the exciting international identity Miami now enjoys, and is tied to the book Miami Contemporary Artists by Julie Davidow and Paul Clemence, which will be launched in December at Art Basel Miami Beach. The book features more thank 100 artists. (Disclosure: the book contains a foreword by this critic about the recent history of the Miami art scene.)

See a similar strategy in the new cable and satellite TV series about art in Miami, produced by Dot Fiftyone Gallery and the audiovisual company Nativa Productions, both of Wynwood. Others in town are doing their part to spotlight the increasing Miami presence of talented artists with ties to the Caribbean, especially Diaspora Vibe Gallery and Chelsea Galleria. Look for Safety Zone, especially art by Erman and Deborah Jack, at Diaspora Vibe from Dec. 4-30.

Further explore this rich culture with Afro-Cuban Works on Paper, 1968-2003 at the Lowe from Dec. 15-Feb. 3 and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons: Everything is Separated by Water at the Bass from Friday through Nov. 11. These shows dovetail In the Hands of African American Collectors: The Personal Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, which looks at the complex African American heritage evoked in art, artifacts and books. This show is at the Norton from April 19-June 20.

The Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale puts Cuban art in the spotlight from April 18-Aug. 31 with Unbroken Ties: Dialogues in Cuban Art. The exhibit will include approximately 60 pieces by artists on the island and in exile in an attempt to show that Cuban artists are inspired by the same wishes and desires in a sort of "visual dialogue, " according to the show's curator, Jorge H. Santis.

With so much outstanding art and so many cultures converging in Miami, the city has become an important destination for new talent. Take note of "youngARTS" at the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, which hosts National Foundation for the Arts program finalists in photography and the visual arts Jan. 8-11.

The Wolfsonian-Florida International University rises to the challenge of standing up for speaking one's mind in perilous political times with Agitated Images: John Heartfield & German Photomontage, 1920-38 (Thursday through Feb. 10) and Indoctrinating Youth: Selections from the Pamela K. Harer Gift of Propaganda Books for Children (through Oct. 31).

BEST BETS

* THE HYBRID TREND: In tune with major trends in contemporary art, Jorge Pardo at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Dec. 4-March 2, melds art, design and architecture to create a challenging body of work that won't fit in a single category. Corbusier Chair, his chair-like sculpture, was part of MOCA's inaugural exhibition. Organized by MOCA, Jorge Pardo fits with the museum's track record of establishing a notable presence in the international art world.

* CUTTING EDGE ART: At Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, Struggling for Grandeur by Christina Lei Rodriguez opens Nov. 8 and The Patroness by Catherine Sullivan opens Dec. 8. Vizcaya is a new, engaging venue for contemporary art, mounting exhibits by artists working on location at this historic mansion. Struggling for Grandeur is a riff on Vizcaya's formal gardens and topiaries. The Patroness, which spins a modern-day tale of anxiety, is the centerpiece of a three-part video installation filmed in Miami, Minneapolis and Chicago.

* INSIGHTS INTO INTERACTION: Wifredo Lam in North America at the Miami Art Museum, Feb. 18-May 18, highlights central aspects of art by Lam in the 1940s, when he was reshaping his European Modernist style to forge a new language rooted in Afro-Cuban traditions in the New World. Around 60 paintings and works on paper offer important insights into how he interacted with artistic styles of North America. Lam's example helped open the door to more diverse art in the Americas.

From the Wolfsonian - Florida International University's current exhibit of German Photomontage. Photo courtesy of the museum.