Now on Display

"Nepotism: The Art of Friendship" -- The Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale continues its slow, steady comeback with this small exhibition curated by Edouard Duval-Carrié, the museum's first official artist in residence. The Haitian-born artist drew on the work of two dozen other artists he knows and/or admires for this group show, which includes 35 paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and installations. You'd be hard-pressed to uncover any sort of artistic agenda here, and that's the point. A show like this -- its misses as well as its hits -- attests to the artist-curator's taste and sensibility, which in this case are characterized by a healthy eclecticism. Duval-Carrié's MoA exhibition includes another contribution, an atmospheric, mixed-media installation called "The Indigo Room or Is Memory Water Soluble?" Displayed in a little elevator foyer, it's an ambitious affirmation of the artist's roots in a country steeped in mystery, ritual, and social and political turmoil, created to commemorate the bicentennial of Haitian independence. It's also a near-hermetic, highly personal work that gives up its secrets only grudgingly. (Through November 7 ["Nepotism"] and December 31 ["Indigo Room"] at the Museum of Art, One E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-525-5500.)

"All You Can Eat: New Work by Sue Irion, Gavin Perry, and Mette Tommerup" -- The show is a surprisingly Spartan spread that includes only three dozen or so pieces by a trio of contemporary artists. If they were chefs, their specialty would be nouvelle cuisine: light, simple concoctions served with minimal fuss, garnished, if at all, with only the most basic culinary flourishes. Minimal is the key word here. Irion, Perry, and Tommerup seem to have absorbed minimalism and post-minimalism, or at least selectively sampled them, taking what suits their purposes before moving on. Perry uses sharply defined shapes that are once (or twice) removed from geometry. Irion's emulisfied photographic images are wispy and evanescent. Tommerup uses digital technology, with some startling effects. (Through September 5 at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison St., Hollywood, 954-921-3274.)