they
also reflect a Caribbean sensibility that melds surrealism and the spirit realm into a distinctly Cuban visual milieu. Spirits of a more concrete sort are suggested in
Victoria Montoro Zamorano's photographs of moldering old buildings in
Havana, where the antique baroque architecture leavened with centuries
of decay yields some decidedly ghostly vistas. Throw in some amazingly
colorful people and a sense of time traveling street theater is
pervasive. The varied, if decorous, works of Ruben Alpizar, Jose Choy
and Luisa Mesa round out this exotic grab bag of a show. 
The Identity expo at Heriard-Cimino features a multinational mixed menu of work including the large photographs of Carlos Betancourt, above, a Miami artist of Cuban ancestry. Here psychedelic images of exotic men and women in the throes of bizarre shamanic rites--a conceptual cocktail of psychotropic flights of fancy--cast a spell that is spooky yet intriguing, and a colorful contrast to the solitary example of Cuban expatriate painter Jose Bedia's more austere Santeria inspired work. But the paintings of Mexican artist Carlos Villasante explore the inner recesses of the “identity” theme even as Nola painter Sharon Jacques' canvases take us across the globe to the strangest encounter of all: Islamic traditions and pop culture, below. All of these works suggest how some things remain the same even in an age of perpetual change. ~Bookhardt
Inside/Outside: Contemporary Cuban Art by Luisa Mesa, Victoria Montoro Zamorano, Jose Antonio Choy and Ruben Rodriguez Martinez, Through June 30, Octavia Art Gallery, 4532 Magazine St., 309-4249; ; Identity: Works by Carlos Betancourt, Sharon Jacques and Carlos Villasante, Through June 30, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, 440 Julia St., 525-7300
