Arts

Debuting the spring lines from the museums

Salvador Dalí “Cuillére avec montre-peigne (spoon with comb).”

Several museums just opened up shows in time for springtime, and in fact many of them have a light touch to them, or at least don’t feel too heavy.

MOCA (a Knight Arts grantee) unveiled its 15th  anniversary exhibit, filled with works by the local and international artists whose art they have shown since the museum opened.

The Bass Museum of Art (also a Knight Arts grantee) switched gears a bit from its recent exhibits (all well-done and though-provoking) with “From Picasso to Koons: the artist as jeweler.” With 200 works from 135 artists, it’s an “often whimsical side of some of the greatest artists of recent times,” curated by French jewelry collector Diane Venet.

So you’ve got your Picasso and Koons, your Georges Braque and Max Ernst, your Yoko Ono and Anish Kapoor.

The pieces here were chosen specifically for their artistic expression, and for their intimacy. Most were personal crafted for personal reasons, for friends and lovers and mothers. These “wearable sculptures” hence often reveal a surprising tenderness, according to the museum, and are divided into three sections: Early Masters, Representational and Abstract.

Alejandro Xul Solar at MAM

Alejandro Xul Solar at MAM.

MAM (again a Knight Arts grantee) just debuted an anticipated exhibit, as it highlights some of the Latin American collection that Jorge Perez donated as part of his gift to the museum, which will carry his name when the sparkling new building on the bay opens by Art Basel time. Appropriately titled “Frames of Reference,” it indeed references many of the origins of 20th century Latin art and its main players, but it should not be looked at as a complete history of that region’s art – it is specifically figurative and representational works. The 43 pieces here are, in fact, some of the “oldest” works that MAM now has, including early works of Wifredo Lam and Diego Rivera. This will be the last exhibit in the Flagler Street digs – the next ones will be at PAMM.

“From Picasso to Koons: the artist as jeweler” runs through July 21 at the Bass Museum of Art, 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; www.bassmuseum.org. “Frames of Reference: Latin American Art From the Jorge M. Perez Collection” runs through June 2 at the Miami Art Museum, 101 Flagler St., Miami; www.miamiartmuseum.org.