Five Free Museums in Miami This Weekend

Ragnar Kjartansson at MoCA

While the doldrums have set into the local gallery scene (many art dealers are on hiatus during summer), the opposite is true for the Magic City's major museums.

And that's great news for those of you packing a Bank of America or Merrill Lynch card in your purses or wallets. Even though a gallon of gas is at record prices and most families are coughing up next month's mortgage payment for back-to-school supplies, there's nothing better than a free dose of culture to cheer one up in a financial crunch.

That's why Bank of America's "Museums on Us" offers free access to local museums for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch cardholders during the first full weekend of each month. Yes, that's right now.

All you have to do is show up with a photo ID and valid Bank of America/Merrill Lynch credit card and receive a free general admission for each cardholder at participant institutions. Here's what's on tap at partnering museums this weekend.

Charles LeDray, "Men's Suits."

Bass Museum of Art
"Charles LeDray: Bass Museum of Art" marks the artist's Florida debut and consists of just four works, each haunting in nature. From his hyper-real wheat shaft meticulously crafted from human bone to his seminal Men's Suits installation, LeDray's evocative works will linger on the imagination long after a visit. Best known for his Lilliputian sculptures of mundane items, he painstakingly created his vision of a down-at-the-heels thrift shop over a three year span in a bizarrely tiny scale that forces one to bend at the waist or kneel to take in the its incredible details and complexity. Divided in three distinct sections, one area features an itsy-bitsy outfit on a mannequin and a round table with dozens of brightly colored neckties fanned out in a circular pattern. A second section features racks full of teeny sports coats and shirts, while a third re-creates a secondhand-clothing sorting area replete with minuscule laundry bins, wooden pallets, a ladder, an ironing board, hangers, and assorted gloves, belts, and T-shirts. The miniature thrift shops go to the extreme to create a realistic vibe, including shoe-scuffed linoleum flooring and dingy, dust-covered drop ceilings with weak fluorescent lighting.
Bass Museum of Art, 2100 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach. Call 305-673-7062 or visit bassmuseum.org.