"Andrew Stevovich: The Truth About Lola"
Through May 31 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Mizner Park, Boca Raton. Call 561-392-2500, or visit bocamuseum.org.
This is the first retrospective of its kind focusing on the work of Stevovich, whose rounded, almond-eyed figures make up a cast of characters distinctively his own. The artist, who was born in Austria and raised in Washington, D.C., apparently thinks of himself as an abstract painter, which will come as news to anyone who sees his characteristic crowd scenes. His influences from the Old Masters, particularly the early Italians, are evident, but it's the suggestion of narratives caught in the middle of unfolding that gives his work its edge. Michael Mills
"David Maxwell: To the Point"
Through July 19 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, 501 Plaza Real, Mizner Park, Boca Raton. Call 561-392-2500, or visit bocamuseum.org.
The Boca Museum's small but enormously satisfying auditorium display features 15 paintings by the late Maxwell, a South Florida-based artist who applied the techniques of pointillism to contemporary subject matter. The Chicago-born artist was also a concrete construction worker by trade, and so he was especially drawn to the sorts of things he knew well, such as pieces of heavy equipment and industrial job sites. As we can see here, he was also a visual poet of nighttime urban scenes. Michael Mills
"Romero Britto: A Britto Celebration!!"
Through May 16 at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, 2855 Coral Springs Dr., Coral Springs. Call 954-340-5000, or visit csmart.org.
There is indeed no accounting for taste, as amply demonstrated by this look at the work of the Brazilian artist who cranks out garish, highly commercial art from his Miami Beach studio. Judging from Britto's vast fame and fortune, there's a huge market for his work, which doesn't excuse such things as his Mona Cat (2004), a particularly ghastly takeoff on the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece. Michael Mills
At Home at the Zoo
Through June 14 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 322 Banyan Blvd., West Palm Beach. Call 561-514-4042, or visit palmbeachdramaworks.org.
Fifty years ago, Zoo Story made playwright Edward Albee famous, but he forbade it from being shown again. Its brief, brutal, single act had struck him as incomplete. Now he's added another, and the two acts combined are called At Home at the Zoo, showing at Palm Beach Dramaworks. The two-act piece is better, which should be apparent to anyone unencumbered by nostalgia. The original act followed the Central Park meeting of Peter (Christopher Swann), a staid publisher of textbooks, and Jerry (Todd Allen Durkin), a drifter who accosts him with words and forces him to converse. The new, first act is subtler and in this production features Margery Lowe in her strongest and most understated performance in years as Peter's wife. Reimagining a classic is never easy, but At Home at the Zoo does more: It adds ambiguity to a work that, before, was all about absolutes. Albee, in his old age, has become very wise. Brandon K. Thorp
"Louis Delsarte and Friends"
Through May 16 at the Coral Springs Museum of Art, 2855 Coral Springs Dr., Coral Springs. Call 954-340-5000, or visit csmart.org.
This small and uneven but worthwhile show includes the work of three generations of black artists: the Brooklyn-born, Atlanta-based Delsarte, whose self-described style is "caught between expressionism and realism"; Charles Mills, the elder statesman of South Florida's black arts community; and a much younger Miami-based artist named Addonis Parker. Among the standouts are four long, horizontal panels from Delsarte's "Nobel Peace Prize Series" that beautifully capture the sweep of modern black American history. Michael Mills
