Sara Maria Salamone

​The centerpiece of Sam Trioli's outdoor pop-up art exhibit in Wynwood might look like a wood pile, but in reality it is... well, a wood pile.

"When you see a wood pile you see pure function," Trioli explained. "It is also a very temporary structure. You build a wood pile and it disappears the next year."

But this sculpture of 250 freshly cut logs is a special kind of wood pile. "It is not just wood dumped out in a lot," Trioli explained. "It stacks perfectly, and in a v-shape."

The display, which includes a minimalist mural painted on a wall adjacent to the wood pile and a trailer displaying Trioli's abstract work on paper, as well as an abbreviated diary of the artist's daily routine for the last two years, is titled "Sagebrush Gulch." It represents the first outdoor exhibit displayed by site95, a recently formed non-profit based in Brooklyn. Meaghan Kent, site95's director and chief curator, said David Lombardi, a Wynwood developer and land owner, donated the lot and a trailer for the organization's use during the month of February. Kent figured that Trioli's work would be a perfect fit for the lot. "I was aware that he was working on a version of the log sculpture and was making these incredible works on paper," she wrote in an e-mail to New Times.
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Jessy Nite gets naughty at Primary Projects

​There's no arguing that our robust art scene is growing to year-round proportions. Consider the new Art Wynwood, opening President's Day weekend (Feb. 16 through 20) and boasting more than 50 galleries representing 13 countries from around the globe. Its organizers have packed the fair's roster with a dozen Miami galleries to showcase our evolution. Fingers crossed that sales materialize to convince skeptics that South Florida has the muscle to sustain a viable market year-round as well.

Until then, there's plenty of eye candy to take in during February's edition of Wynwood's wildly popular art walk. Beginning at 6 p.m. this Saturday, expect to be rocked by a combination of new shows that take on subjects ranging from the naked truth about erotica in art to the spirit of rebellion and a girl gone bad.

Here are our best bets for this month's Second Saturday dance card, which promises plenty of action and an occasional sucker punch.
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Bleeding Palm animates Miami's underground scene with psychedelic humor. So we've employed them to make the Magic City feel more magical with weekly animated GIFs.

Bleeding Palm

​Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.
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Bleeding Palm animates Miami's underground scene with psychedelic humor. So we've employed them to make the Magic City feel more magical with weekly animated GIFs.

Bleeding Palm

​Artist's note: So you know how the pythons are taking over? Well, I snapped this photo today of them trying to assimilate into society.

Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.

Robert Dempster

Beneath this cheery exterior lies a badass.

​Miru Kim's not the only lady who's gotten naughty at Primary Projects. With her solo show opening February 11, artist Jessy Nite sinks her teeth into the seedy world of the rich.

According to Nite, the title "Bad As I Wanna Be" is about more than just partying and "being badass." She says, "I pretty much do whatever I want in life, and I think that's always the goal, but the show is also about getting to finally do the projects I always wanted to do. This is my own personal side of it. It's about the whole attitude of just doing it."
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Magnus Sigurdarson

where Ali Baba meets Obama

​Magnus Sigurdarson stands on the corner of Ali Baba and Barack Obama Avenues in Opa-locka while holding a cardboard sign that reads, "Occupy My Innocence."

"The 'Other' is in the White House," cracks the Icelandic artist, who has appropriated the Moorish-themed municipality as the conceptual stomping grounds for his show opening at 6 p.m., Friday, February 10 at the Dorsch Gallery in Wynwood.

Sigurdarson plans to exhibit photos and a video piece documenting what he calls his "protest" in front of Opa-locka City Hall. There will also be a rotating camel and computer drawings of scenes inspired by French colonial-era postcards depicting life in a Saharan oasis, nomadic encampments, and camel caravans departing for trade on the Silk Road.

In some of his images, the artist appears at various locales throughout Opa-locka, such as city hall and a train station, holding signs that say, "Occupy My Dreams," "What's in It for Me?" and "Fundamentally Right."
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Alex Yanes

​Just because it's a cliche doesn't mean it's not true: Miami's art scene is killing it right now. And if you want to celebrate our scene as much as we do, then you better get your tickets to Artopia, Miami New Times' annual fete featuring some of the city's most exciting artists.

Otto von Schirach is the event's musical headliner, and there'll be drinks and hors d'ouvres on the house. But we think you'll be just as excited about the crazy trip your eyeballs will be taking as they scan the walls. From cute cartoons with an edge by Helen Garcia to lifelike, dystopian scenes by Jeff Dekal, you're in for a trippy visual ride.
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​Art Wynwood hasn't raised the curtain yet on its inaugural edition, but it has already surpassed Art Basel Miami Beach in at least one category. The spin-off of Art Miami, taking place President's Day Weekend, February 16-20, has announced its exhibitor list of more than 50 galleries and nearly a quarter of participants are local spaces.

That's more than the number of South Florida galleries (which you could count on your fingers) that managed to purchase a toehold at the Miami Beach Convention Center during the past decade of Basel.

With decidedly more of a homegrown flavor, Art Wynwood has corralled 500 artists from 13 countries who will be exhibiting an arsenal of contemporary works from every conceivable genre. On view you'll find paintings, photography, sculpture, video, and new media -- not to mention conceptual and urban street art. Some of the countries represented at the fair include Austria, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
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Bleeding Palm animates Miami's underground scene with psychedelic humor. So we've employed them to make the Magic City feel more magical with weekly animated GIFs.

Bleeding Palm

​You might recognize these guys from this photo.

Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.

Dana Schutz

Swimming, Smoking, Crying

​Near the entrance of the Miami Art Museum, a self-portrait depicts artist Dana Schutz wide-eyed and gazing heavenward. Traffic-cone-colored locks frame her gray, wrinkled face. Her nose, rendered in slashing brush strokes, looks like an elephant's trunk. It juts out from the canvas in a bubbled welt.

Across the way is a picture of a young woman sneezing in a scrunched-eyed convulsion, an explosion of mucous spraying from her schnoz. The blonde's piggish peepers are rendered with daubs of oil paint squeezed straight from the tube, magnifying the notion that she might have a contagious disease.

The two paintings show Schutz's wicked streak of humor and gift for corrosive storytelling. They are part of a remarkable suite of more than 40 paintings and drawings in "Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels," a survey of the Brooklyn-based artist's work from 2001 to 2011.
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