Weekend Art Gallery Roundup

Whilst attending any gallery reception, you might start to feel wings of social fabulousness budding just beneath your shoulder blades. Don't panic -- they look so cute. Besides, can you help it if art lifts you up where you belong?

This Friday, aim to get a rise out of a number of art openings around town. Those who like lacquer (and who among ye doesn't?) should visit the Fielding Lecht Gallery. A new exhibit, The World of Lacquer, showcases the work of two Vietnamese artists, including Nhat Tran, who employs the traditional Japanese technique of urushi to create vibrant, emotional paintings, embedded with eggshells and other organic materials for effect.

Also opening is a new photographic exhibition at La Peña Gallery, featuring the work of a smorgasbord of artists. Entitled Corazón a Corazón: From Mexican Heart to Latino Heart, it explores the widening influence of Mexican culture on American life, from El Día de los Muertos to the Frida Kahlo revival, and beyond.

Yet another reception on Friday evening promises to be entertaining, as The Jones Center hosts the first major survey of Bulgarian-born artist Daniel Bozhkov's work. With wacky/earnest pieces like, "Darth Vader Tries to Clean the Black Sea with a Brita Filter," you might even head there armed with suggestions for future compositions.

Fielding Lecht Gallery
Reception Sept 8, 5-8p
708 Congress Avenue
512.476.0044

La Peña Gallery
Reception Sept 8, 6-8p
227 Congress Avenue
512.477.6007

Arthouse at The Jones Center
Reception Sept 8, 8-10p
Artist talk Sept 9, 2p
700 Congress Avenue
512.453.5312

Photo: French journalists visit National Gallery, 1945 (Library of Congress)