Now on Display
The dark, tattoo- and graffiti-influenced work of art student Patrick Maxcy covers a wall of the hallway leading to Florida Atlantic University's Schmidt Gallery, now presenting Picturing Florida. It's an interestingly intimate segue from the expansive surrounding campus to the almost bare gallery. Maxcy's approach differs from the usual paintings hanging on white walls, as he uses all of the space offered to him by applying complementary, mixed-media images directly to the typically blank space beneath his mounted works. At the end of the hallway is the gallery itself, where artists in residence Ellen Harvey and Marc Dean Veca have created their individual but associated wall pieces comprising Picturing Florida. Veca painted a colorful, large scale surfboard-shaped piece in a very Dr. Seuss-like style, spanning two adjoining walls and adding considerable dimension to the gallery. His digitally designed painting, Strangler, references Florida with not only its shape, but through mossy green twisted vines that allude to the native strangler fig, with several not so subtle Disney logos and a background of puffy pink clouds and blue skies added to the mix. Harvey's wall installation takes a corner of the gallery, but on a much smaller scale. She alternates 80 small paintings of photos submitted by local senior citizens with mirrors to create a checkerboard effect. (Through April 18. Visit 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton. Call (561-297-2966)