URBAN CANVAS
“How do you deal with history in a city that is always in the process of becoming?” designer Domingo Castillo ponders at the Little River gallery he, Loriel Beltran and Aramis Gutierrez branded Guccivuitton (8375 NE 2nd Ave.) as elite retailers displaced several artist-run spaces in the Design District. “Art is a luxury object. Just having the time and money to do this is a luxury.” Low rent helps maintain autonomy despite few sales and loans from collectors to “look at contemporary artmaking through a historical lens,” as in “The Christmas Show” until January. Guccivuitton’s new neighbors Eddie Negron and Marla Rosen named Jenielift (8365 NE 2nd Ave.) after the Genie equipment that elevates their day labor as art handlers. The duo engages
David McCauley is offering art therapy workshops and approaching curators and artists to reimagine the insides and façade of the building, already graced with a moon goddess by Hawaiian muralist Kamea Hadar and Miami’s Tatiana Suarez. Seeing potential in the empty passage below his Little Havana studio five years ago, Adal Delgado conceived 6th Street Container (1155 SW 6th St.) as an outlet for his aging contemporaries. Now he also welcomes regional art students and graduates like Yasmin Khalaf, who debuts deconstructed paintings Jan. 15. The cause of celebrating established but overshadowed stalwarts was taken up at the North Miami complex where father-daughter landlords Robert and Kristen Thiele devote Bridge Red Studios Project Space (12425 NE 13th Ave.) to “developed bodies of work by underexposed artists working diligently.” This long-range view frames highlights Jan. 24-March 6 from the collection of Helen Kohen, The Miami Herald’s beloved art critic emeritus who departed this year. Lou Anne Colodny also dedicates most of her workspace downstairs to mid-career artists; Under the Bridge spotlights Carlos Sandoval De León Nov. 22-Jan. 3. A reverence for “makers and their objects” unites the interdisciplinary collective behind Meetinghouse (168 SE 1st St.), inaugurated last November at a 1920s penthouse downtown. Process and product mingle in group shows, with painter Babette Herschberger, architect Allan Shulman and art director Philip Bonnery joining video artists Carlos Rigau and Marin
critical dialogue through scholarly presentations and catalogs for installations like the U.S. premiere Dec. 3 of Argentinian Sergio Vega’s project shown at biennials and museums. Due south in Little Haiti, nine artists moved into studios this spring at the cooperative Laundromat Art Space (5900 NE 2nd Ave.), where a common area and gallery host exhibitions as well as diverse activities with community partners. Founder 16