Slow Gallery Walk ended up being quite enjoyable

I hadn't been to a Coconut Grove Gallery Walk in quite some time, so I ventured out this past Saturday night with some of my family. While only a handful of galleries were open (most took August off), the ones that were open had excellent work and we had a good time just spending a Saturday night in the Grove.

The window above at FrameWorks is a traffic stopper. I had seen it earlier in the day while driving by and then had to just stop and enjoy it at night. The art, by Gabriel Gimenez, better known as GG, really makes you take notice.

GG, shown here, uses acrylic, spray paint and latex pain on canvas, wood or walls. What I loved about his work was the cartoon, comic character aspect. It's very intricate and detailed, yet simple and enticing at the same time. Someone at the gallery on Saturday described the work as reminding her of Charles Schulz and Charlie Brown and Peanuts, which I took to be very high praise.

GG's work can be seen at FrameWorks for the rest of the month. Stop in and enjoy. FrameWorks is at  3196 Commodore Plaza.

At the other end of town, we enjoyed the closing event for Maribel Longueira's work at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery. The "People in the Midst" images consisted of five images fused together to make one, using Photoshop. The eyes in each image is what draw you in. It's man's relationship with the environment.

"The eyes of the people, our eyes, such as the sea of life which receives the trash that we produce and then returns it to the beach; purifying exorcisms and transformed by the sea of glances that remind us that we are people in the midst, beings committed to life, the only hope," explains Maribel.

If it's Gallery Walk night, then you know the Drum Circle will be out and no matter what time of year or what the weather, they always draw a crowd. Their drumming location has been the corner of Commodore Plaza and Grand Avenue, so they cannot be missed. It's always a lot of fun, and everyone who is passing by, stops for a bit to enjoy the show.

It was really an enjoyable Saturday night. We enjoyed the art, we stopped and ate dinner, stopped for drinks at one of the bars, got ice cream and just enjoyed the village.  I saw people who I had not seen for awhile and that's always great.

The next Gallery Walk should be much more busy and enjoyable as it starts the fall season. It will be held on Saturday, September 7. And added to the galleries will be a number of other locations around the Center Grove, which will have art set up in their businesses, adding to the venues as part of the walk.

A special place that I really had not been is Vinos Wine Bar on Main Highway. It's really a special place and they have added a gallery to their second floor. More on Vinos tomorrow.