At first blush, artists Theo Wujcik and Jay Giroux might seem like an odd pairing, but the 70-something titan — Wujcik's work belongs to the Museum of Modern Art, and he counts James Rosenquist as a friend — and the 20-something painter-designer-curator-art-director have developed one of the most interesting synergistic relationships to emerge on the local scene in recent memory. This weekend, an exhibit of large-scale paintings and installations by Wujcik and Giroux opens at Nova 535. New works are expected to take center stage, but expect to see selections from Wujcik's past oeuvre as well. An opening reception takes place Sat., May 3, 7 p.m-2 a.m., and the exhibit runs through June. For information, go to nova535.com.
Unusual sights are par for the course this week at the University of South Florida's Contemporary Art Museum, as two exhibits with eye-popping components take up residence. Outside the museum, stop and linger for a while at the Moving Thought bookmobile, a 31-foot classic Airstream trailer outfitted with an array of hand-made and printed artists' books organized by Assistant Professor Alan Moore of the USF School of Art & Art History. (An accompanying exhibit takes place in the special collections department of the USF library.)
Inside and outside the CAM, keep your eyes peeled for an unconventional exhibit of sculpture and photography by New York artist Cameron Gainer. In addition to reconstructing two of his past projects — a life-sized Loch Ness monster at USF's Botanical Gardens and a 6-feet-tall Big Foot at USF's Riverfront Park — Gainer plans a new, site-specific sculpture for the CAM designed to inspire surprise and disbelief. An opening reception for Gainer's exhibit happens Sun., May 4, 4-6 p.m. For more information about both projects, go to cam.usf.edu.
