On the Lam

Miami Art Museum’s ballyhooed Wifredo Lam retrospective has been one of the stellar cultural offerings this season. Local galleries have organized tributes to the Cuban master, underscoring his iconic shadow on contemporary art during the mid-20th Century. Arguably, the most impressive has been the sprawling Lam exhibition at Gary Nader Fine Arts (62 NE 27th St., Miami), featuring more than 60 paintings spanning the artist’s prolific career and rivaling a museum show in scope. The tycoon dealer has extended the ambitious exhibit so the hoi polloi can take a gander at one of the biggest stashes of Lam masterpieces in private hands. Honeying the pot, Nader trots out 35 works by one of America’s most influential artists, Frank Stella, rambling across five decades of experimentation.

Nader tosses more crumbs with a new series of realistic paintings by Guillermo Muñoz Vera, touted as an heir to Spanish legend Velásquez. In “Eight Days in Havana,” Muñoz Vera becomes seduced by Cuba’s capital city, exploring it with melancholy and lyricism. The exhibit runs through May 31.
April 26-May 31, 2008