Sundance-Winning ‘Cactus Pears' Director Rohan Kanawade Signs With Cinetic Media (EXCLUSIVE)
Following his historic Sundance Grand Jury Prize win for 'Cactus Pears' ('Sabar Bonda'), director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade has inked a management deal with Cinetic Media, it was revealed on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival.
Kanawade's debut feature made history as the first Marathi-language film and first Indian fiction title to claim Sundance's top World Cinema Dramatic Competition honor this past January.
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'It's an incredible honor to be represented by Cinetic Media, a company known for championing cinema that pushes creative boundaries and defies conventional norms,' Kanawade told Variety. 'For a story as personal and intimate as 'Sabar Bonda' to find global resonance – and now, a team that believes in its journey as much as we do – is both humbling and empowering. This partnership isn't just about where the film goes next – it's about what kinds of stories get to be seen, heard, and remembered. I hope this marks the beginning of a longer arc for regional, authentic and emotionally grounded Indian stories to travel across languages and borders.'
In 'Cactus Pears,' a 30-something city dweller named Anand is forced to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in rural western India, where he forms an unexpected bond with a local farmer struggling to remain unmarried. The emotionally resonant drama has connected with audiences across borders since its Sundance triumph.
The film will receive a theatrical release via Strand Releasing this fall, following a festival run that included New Directors/New Films, San Francisco Film Festival (where it won the Special Jury Prize – Visions), and the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (winner of the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature).
Marcus Hu of Strand Releasing said: 'Strand is thrilled to hear this news and what a great partnership for the filmmaking team to get this representation.'
Neeraj Churi, a producer on the film and founder of Lotus Visual Productions, added: 'While Cinetic Media has always aimed to champion films and filmmakers that are bold and original, this development reaffirms that the global film industry is expanding its gaze, ready to embrace not only big cinema but brave cinema. We also acknowledge the unique role played by NFDC lab, Co-pro market and India Cine Hub grant in shaping and propelling the film and Rohan into the international arena. With MPM premium, Strand Releasing and Cinetic, we are excited to collaborate with a team that truly understands nuance and recognizes the potential of Indian independent cinema in all its emotional complexity.'
Kanawade's personal journey adds another layer to the film's success story. Raised in a one-room house in a Mumbai slum by a chauffeur father and illiterate homemaker mother, he is a self-made filmmaker with a background in interior design. His short films have screened globally, and 'Cactus Pears' was developed in the Venice Biennale College Cinema 2022-2023, and was also included in the Film London Production Finance Market 2021, NFDC Marathi Script Camp 2021, Film Bazaar 2022, Venice Gap Financing Market 2023 and Goes to Cannes 2024.
The cast includes Bhushaan Manoj, Jayshri Jagtap, and Suraaj Suman. Behind the camera, Vikas Urs handled cinematography, with Anadi Athaley editing and Anirban Borthakur and Naren Chandavarkar as sound designers.
Cinetic will represent Kanawade across all media.
'Cactus Pears' is produced by Neeraj Churi (Lotus Visual Productions, U.K.), Mohamed Khaki (Canada), Kaushik Ray (Taran Tantra Telefilms, U.K.), Naren Chandavarkar (Moonweave Films, India), Sidharth Meer (Bridge PostWorks, India) and Hareesh Reddypalli (Dark Stories, India), along with co-producer Jim Sarbh (Wonderful Entertainment, India) and associate producer Rajesh Parwatkar (U.K.).Best of Variety
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All 12 Wes Anderson Movies, Ranked, from ‘Bottle Rocket' to ‘The Phoenician Scheme'
Let's get this out of the way right from the top: Wes Anderson has never made a bad movie, and — in all likelihood — he probably never will. He's too particular, too immaculate, too in command of his craft. Of course, the fact that he has always been so sure of himself only makes it more tempting to chart the progress of his career and to measure his films against each other. Or maybe it's just fun because there are still only 12 of them, and everyone seems to have their own favorite. Who could say? Anderson is the rarest of rarities, an arthouse filmmaker who not only finds ways to consistently make ambitious original projects, but also maintains genuine influence on what remains of mainstream pop culture. (None of the other esteemed directors who competed for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival were the subjects of viral TikTok trends.) But the instantly-recognizable aesthetic that propelled Anderson to filmmaking superstardom often prompts his critics to look at his work through an oversimplified lens. More from IndieWire Wes Anderson Put a Great Deal of Time and Thought Into His Upcoming Criterion Career Box Set Luca Guadagnino Attached to Direct AI Business Comedy 'Artificial' for Amazon MGM Many of Anderson's films contain similar stylistic flourishes — like twee interior design with perfect color palettes, inserts of hand-written notes, and the presence of Jason Schwartzman, to name a few. But the visual similarities mask the fact that he has covered an insanely wide range of narrative ground in his 25 years of filmmaking. From dry comedies and whimsical animated features to painfully mature dramas about the nuances of grief, Anderson's filmography is anything but monolithic. We all know what a Wes Anderson movie looks like, but the differences between his films and the substance of his artistry are complex subjects that merit rigorous debate. With 'The Phoenician Scheme' now in select theaters, it's a perfect time to reevaluate Anderson's catalogue. Here are all of Wes Anderson's feature films, ranked from 'worst' to best. We're not including his short films here, including the collection 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More' — the title installment there won him an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film at the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony. [Editor's note: This story was published on May 1, 2017 and has been updated multiple times since.] Almost as indebted to Satyajit Ray and Jean Renoir as 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' is to the writings of Stefan Zweig, 'The Darjeeling Limited' never pretends that it isn't the work of a white guy from Texas who was raised on the 'exoticism' of movies like 'Charulata' and 'The River.' On the contrary, Wes Anderson's uneven fifth film confronts that naïveté head-on, telling a story about three grieving brothers who travel to India with the half-assed hope that they can bottle up some of the country's spiritualism and take it home as a souvenir. Riding the eponymous train through the countryside and looking out the window like everything they see is a backdrop for their self-obsessive bullshit, Anderson's most noxious cast of characters learns the hard way that you can't be a tourist in your own family. Modernist to the extreme and a bit stilted as a result, 'The Darjeeling Limited' doesn't quite match the sum of its parts, but — from Bill Murray's opening dash to Amara Karan's unforgettable performance — the parts are pretty great. —DE 'If family is the sharpest and most cutting of double-edged swords, few storytellers have ever wielded it with more violent enthusiasm than Wes Anderson, whose movies often start with — and then scab over — the seemingly mortal kind of wound that only a severed relationship can leave behind, and only a carefully mended one can ever hope to fix. In that sense and several others, 'The Phoenician Scheme' is the most enthusiastically violent film that Anderson has made thus far.' 'Spackled together from all the gray paint and seriocomic grotesquerie that he couldn't find a use for in his previous work, the 'Asteroid City' auteur's hectic father-daughter story takes pains to clarify a certain ethos at the root of his art, even if it does frustratingly little to flesh that ethos out any further.' 'More linear than 'Asteroid City' or 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and yet significantly harder to follow than either of them, 'The Phoenician Scheme' is the busiest of Anderson's films, and also — at least on first viewing — the least rewarding. The scale of its story is immense, in that Zsa-zsa (Benicio Del Toro) and the gang span an entire nation in search of the money he needs to complete his deal, but the stops on their tour often feel like isolated vignettes, more focused on milking a few dry chortles out of their celebrity cameos than they are in deepening the father-daughter bond that inspired the billionaire's cockamamy plan. At least Zsa-zsa is courteous enough to bring souvenir hand grenades with him everywhere he goes.' —DE Read IndieWire's complete review of 'The Phoenician Scheme.' Wes Anderson arrived fully formed (or close to it), and so much of his cinematic ethos can be distilled from the very first shot of his very first film, the camera crashing in on Luke Wilson's young face with the confidence of a master and the exuberance of an eternal kid. And it's really that energy that makes 'Bottle Rocket' such a perfect indication of what was to come. Yes, the film is full of Anderson's future signatures — whip-pans, insert shots of handwritten lists, overly elaborate plans, the hierarchy of accessories that are assigned for infiltration missions (and used as measuring sticks for love) — but the director's debut points the way forward because it's so high on its own existence, its characters as committed to the bubbles they create for themselves as we are to watching them burst. Anderson's most naturalistic film by a long shot (there's something so intolerably casual about those gray skies), this puckish caper movie sputters out at least three different times before James Caan even shows up to spark the third act, but 'Bottle Rocket' is colorful even when it isn't sparkling. Would Wes Anderson have even been possible without Owen Wilson there to translate him for us? His Dignan, dreamy and deranged, set the mold for at least seven movies to come, playing the guy in an electrified defensive coil of some kind, always trying to disguise themselves and doing such a poor job of it that you can't help but laugh at their transparency ('What are you putting that tape on your nose for?' Bob Mapplethorpe asks. 'Exactly,' Dignan replies). Thank God someone was able to see through the film's disastrous box office performance and recognize that this was the start of something great. —DE 'Oh, shit! Swamp leeches. Everybody, check for swamp leeches, and pull them off… Nobody else got hit? I'm the only one? What's the deal?' It's amazing, just when he was on the verge of becoming a household name, Wes Anderson made a dry nautical epic about Jacques Cousteau being a shitty father. I mean, I'd appreciate this movie being made under any circumstances, but 'The Life Aquatic' is the only Wes Anderson film that feels as though it exists for the simple reason that someone was willing to fund it. As exhaustingly dense as 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' as spirited as 'The Grand Budapest Hotel,' and as anarchic as 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' this expansive adventure is even better than the Adidas sneakers it inspired. Yeah, it sits uncomfortably in the middle of Anderson's career and sometimes play like a watered down version of his previous work, but it also features Bill Murray as a vengeful shark hunter, Seu Jorge covering David Bowie, Cate Blanchett radiating right off the screen, Willem Dafoe as an over-sensitive German sailor, and Bud Cort giving us the closer that 'Harold and Maude' never did. —DE If the two decades that brought us 'Rushmore,' 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' and 'Moonrise Kingdom,' felt like a passionate love affair between cinephiles and Wes Anderson, the release of 'The French Dispatch' is more akin to settling into a comfortable relationship. The excitement inevitably fades when you pretty much know what you're going to get, but that does not negate the fact that Anderson is one of the most technically proficient filmmakers working today. As his aesthetic becomes more recognizable, if that's even still possible, the (often unfair) question of what Wes Anderson is offering beyond unique interior design choices and snappy dialogue will weigh on him more with each subsequent film. 'The French Dispatch' succeeds in part because it does not particularly try to answer that question, instead offering a light ensemble piece that goes down relatively easily and gives Anderson plenty of opportunities to work with new actors and show off the cinematic bells and whistles his devotees have come to expect. The thinly veiled tribute to The New Yorker does an excellent job of weaving multiple stories together without boring audiences, even if that means sacrificing the narrative heft of some of Anderson's earlier films. While this was probably Anderson's first opportunity to cast Timothée Chalamet since the young actor broke through in 2017, the pairing still felt long overdue. As did the film's decision to partially shoot in black and white, which gave Anderson a new color palette that produced some stunning shots. Anderson's technical precision has never been better — even if the film looks less flashy than some of his earlier work, there is no doubt that he is at the top of his game as a visual filmmaker. 'The French Dispatch' did not represent a massive step forward in Anderson's filmography, but it was not a step backward, either. —CZ The world is trash, and Wes Anderson is currently enjoying the hottest streak of his career. These things, it turns out, are not unrelated. The worse things get, the more fantastical Anderson's films become; the more fantastical Anderson's films become, the better their style articulates his underlying sincerity. Disorder fuels his imagination, and the staggeringly well-crafted 'Isle of Dogs' is nothing if not Anderson's most imaginative film to date. There's a whiff of inevitability to that. Whether telling a story about a splintered New York dynasty or one about a faded European hotel where it used to be possible to find some faint glimmers of civilization in this barbaric slaughterhouse known as humanity, Anderson has always been attuned to the beauty of magical idylls, to the violence of losing them, and (most of all) to the fumblingly tragicomic process of building something better from the rubble. So at a time when global warming and gun violence have become inescapable — a time when fascism and xenophobia are no longer abstract threats so much as Republican campaign promises — it's no wonder that America's fussiest auteur is operating near the peak of his powers. 'Isle of Dogs' is the work of an artist who's howling into the same wind that's currently blowing in all of our faces. Blending Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki into a darkly comic fable about a boy, his dog, and a world that's on the brink of running out of biscuits, this is a movie that literally asks: 'Who are we, and who do we want to be?' And since it's a Wes Anderson movie, those questions are posed straight into the camera. It's funny, it's grim, and it's probably the most pet-able bit of dystopian fiction we've ever seen. —DE If all of Anderson's movies are sustained by the tension between order and chaos, uncertainty and doubt, 'Asteroid City' is the first that takes that tension as its subject, often expressing it through the friction created by rubbing together its various levels of non-reality. Some might see that as self-amused navel-gazing, but the unexpected moment towards the end when Anderson finds a certain equilibrium between those contradictory forces — with a major assist from a movie star whose name you suddenly remember seeing in the credits some 100 minutes earlier — is so crushingly beautiful and well-earned that the artifice surrounding it simply falls away. Read IndieWire's complete review of 'Asteroid City' by David Ehrlich. For such a singular artist and aesthete, Wes Anderson has always been comfortable with wearing his influences on his sleeve, rightly confident that he can celebrate his touchstones without resigning to them. For proof, just look at the way his characters worship each other in order to find themselves — from Ned Plimpton's childhood obsession with Steve Zissou, to the mild awe that Gustave H. inspires from his new lobby boy, Anderson understands that self-discovery is the last stage of a failed attempt to become someone else. Maybe that's why 'Rushmore' represented such a breakthrough for him, because this coming-of-age story about a super precocious kid (and the grown man who goads along their mutually assured destruction) is so giddy about the things that made it possible. Running on the fumes of the French New Wave and drafting behind American touchstones like Mike Nichols and Albert Brooks, Anderson's second feature is like an artistic manifesto that never declines to cite its sources. And, not for nothing, it gave the world Jason Schwartzman, reinvigorated Bill Murray, and — most importantly — made it possible for generations of viewers to say 'Wait wait, go back… was that Rory Gilmore!?' 'Rushmore' is a film as self-possessed as its hero (and many times cooler), and that makes it a favorite for many, but it lacks the sentimental spark that galvanizes Anderson's more mature work. —DE The Wes Anderson movie that people think of when they think of Wes Anderson movies, 'The Royal Tenenbaums' is a story about failure that's told by someone who's afraid of his own ambition (or, more precisely, afraid of his unwillingness to tame it). Unfolding like 'Fanny and Alexander' as remade by a very drunk Whit Stillman, 'The Royal Tenenbaums' is responsible for so many of the worst quirks of recent indie cinema, but it falls victim to exactly none of them. It's a film where the characters are cobbled together from affects, but all manage to feel human. It's a film that feels overstuffed to the gills, but one whose every moment is iconic — gather enough twentysomethings together, and their Tenenbaums tattoos could serve as storyboards for the entire script. It's a film that leaves me a little cold every time I watch it, but always feels worth watching again. —DE Wes Anderson's career can be cut into two distinctly different parts: Before 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' and after 'Fantastic Mr. Fox.' Stung by accusations of self-parody, Anderson could have eased off the gas after 'The Darjeeling Limited' divided critics and inspired all sorts of talk about how the filmmaker had grown subservient to his own style. But rather admit that the tail was wagging the dog, Anderson snipped the damn thing off and let his next hero wear it as a necktie. He introduced himself to audiences as an aesthete, and every one of the films he made after 'Bottle Rocket' had a little less breathable air than the last, but that was fine by Anderson. If anything, he wanted more control, he wanted to play God, he wanted to make something so airless that his characters wouldn't even need to have lungs. And so he ventured into the painstaking world of stop-motion, working in a medium where literally nothing made its way on screen unless he thought to put it there. It turns out that yeah, everything else was just getting in the way. Flattering Roald Dahl's (lovely) source material into a gloriously wry domestic comedy about compromise, belonging, and accepting one's lot in life (be it in below ground or above), 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' is more than just one of the most quotable films this side of 'Casablanca,' it's also an immaculate portrait of flawed 'people' doing the best they can for themselves and each other. —DE A pre-pubescent 'Badlands' that's told with the endearingly pathetic quality of an elementary school play, 'Moonrise Kingdom' is the rare American film that's about children, but not necessarily for children (a schism that studios can't seem to wrap their heads around, but one that artists like Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, and Hayao Miyazaki have always been able to reconcile with ease). The movie begins with the most perfect premise that Wes Anderson has ever devised for himself: Two kids get together and try to run away from home, only to be stymied by the fact that they live on an island. If you squint, that pretty much sums up every Wes Anderson movie. But 'Moonrise Kingdom' isn't a story about being stuck, it's a story about how the things we can't escape are often the things that love us the most, about how the greatest myths are the ones we create for ourselves, about how everything is better when narrated by Bob Balaban. It's like a mousetrap, it's written with a whimsical Dickensian flair, and it's filled with lines so evocative that merely reading them can bring the whole film back to life ('I love you, but you don't know what you're talking about'). Anderson has made a lifetime's worth of family sagas, but none of his other movies so pointedly capture what it feels like to have a home. —DE There will always be some debate as to whether or not 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' is the best Wes Anderson movie, but there may be no denying that it's the most Wes Anderson movie. The latest work from an artist who seems to become himself a little bit more with every film, this flawless, four-tiered confection is like a wedding cake filled with arsenic, a nostalgic comedy that functions like a requiem for itself. Anderson's stories are about boys, men, or male foxes who seek to live in snow globes of their own design, ensconcing themselves in the empire of their own imaginations. Some of his films (e.g. 'Moonrise Kingdom') are about creating those magical spaces, but most of his stories are about the heartache of losing them, about the tragicomic process of building something new on top of the rubble. With 'The Grand Budapest Hotel,' Anderson directly confronts the hermetic fantasy of his films, reaching into the not-too-distant past and exhuming the spirit of Stefan Zweig in order to mourn the world we lost, the civility that we've forgotten, and the beauty of creating beautiful things even when we know that the world will never let them survive. The film is so beautifully realized that Ralph Fiennes' career-best performance almost feels like the cherry on top. Also: Willem Dafoe playing the best henchman who Bond never killed, and Tilda Swinton as a sexually active octogenarian. And Saoirse Ronan's Mexico-shaped birthmark. Oh, and also the best line that Anderson has ever written, shrugged off like an afterthought in the first act: 'You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed, that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant… oh, fuck it.' —DE Best of IndieWire The Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in June, from 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window' to 'Emily the Criminal' Nightmare Film Shoots: The 38 Most Grueling Films Ever Made, from 'Deliverance' to 'The Wages of Fear' Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 65 Films the Director Wants You to See
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Here's What Denzel (Likely) Told Handsy Photog During Heated Exchange, According To Lip Reader
While Denzel Washington is currently attending the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in support of upcoming Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest, his heated red carpet exchange with a handsy photographer is what went viral, as he was seen giving the man a stern talking-to for grabbing the 70-year-old stage veteran's arm. Washington's body language indicates he wasn't pleased with his personal space being violated, with lip reader Jackie 'G' Gonzalez giving some insight into what was likely said via her social media pages. 'Hey, you're the one that grabbed me, right? Let me tell you something, let me tell you something, stop! You ever put your hands on me again, and that'll be [camera loses focus]. I'm warning you, you heard me, right? Ok.' Denzel then turns to walk away and is grabbed a second time. 'Stop. Stop. Stop. You got me? Stop.' While Washington's red carpet experience was less than stellar, he was soon awarded with a surprise Honorary Palme d'Or, the festival's highest accolade, during the Highest 2 Lowest premiere Monday (May 19) night. 'This is a total surprise for me, so I'm a little emotional, but from the bottom of my heart, I thank you all,' said Washington during his speech. 'To be here once again in Cannes — we're a very privileged group in this room that we get to make movies and wear tuxedos and nice clothes and dress up and get paid for it as well.' He was also sure to recognize director Spike Lee as his 'brother from another mother.' Highest 2 Lowest, co-starring Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, A$AP Rocky, Ice Spice, and more, will be released in select theaters on Aug. 22. It will then stream exclusively on Apple TV+ beginning Sept. 5. Check out the teaser below. More from Denzel Washington Has Tense Exchange With Photographer At Cannes Film Festival A$AP Rocky Says Denzel Washington Listens To Rappers From This Southern City The Most 'Highest 2 Lowest' Teaser: Spike Lee And Denzel Reunite For Fifth "Joint" Of Their Careers
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Mystical painter highlights MOCA North Miami's spring season
There's plenty going on in the mind of Philip Smith, and it shows in his art. The Miami-born painter's canvases are full of esoteric symbols and mystical imagery gleaned from years of studying ancient cultures, world religions, and the work of historical magicians. Spirals, DNA strands, minerals, magic circles, foliage, human hands – all coexist in a ghostly mélange of images and ideograms. 'These images are meant to basically provoke your imagination,' says Smith, who is currently the subject of a career-spanning retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, which opened Wednesday, April 30 and is on view through Sunday, Oct. 5. 'The idea of looking at my paintings is a bit akin to sitting in a planetarium, where you're looking up at the stars and they project all these patterns. And you're told to see those patterns, that this is the Milky Way, but then your mind wanders and you start to see other things. And that's the idea with my work, really. It's a portal for the imagination.' Smith's encounters with the supernatural began during his childhood in Miami. His father Lew Smith, who had been an interior decorator for famous and powerful people such as Walt Disney and Cuban president Carlos Prio Socarras, one day discovered he could speak to the dead and heal the sick. He became a faith healer, and the difficulties this placed on then-teenage Philip, who eventually wrote about the experience in his memoir 'Walking Through Walls,' put him on his own spiritual quest. He tried drugs. He joined, and later left, the Church of Scientology. And finally, he moved to New York to become an artist, and from there he developed the image-dense visual language in his paintings. 'As a kid, I wanted to be an archeologist, so I was looking at, obviously, Sumerian and Egyptian and Indian temples,' he says. 'I wanted to sort of create a pictographic language, also a slightly cinematic language. Because I think we respond to that experientially and also cerebrally more than words,' he says. Smith explains that words have to be learned, whereas images are immediate. 'When you speak to mediums or psychics, they get their information visually. It's imprinted. They see things as they're talking to you. And so all those components go into making up this visual language,' he says. Smith's work managed to get noticed by the critic Douglas Crimp, who put him in a soon-to-be-influential show at Artists Space in downtown Manhattan called 'Pictures.' It included several artists, including Robert Longo and Sherrie Levine, who would later be part of the so-called 'the Pictures Generation,' a group of artists who were deeply influenced by the culture of mass media that was present at the time. Smith describes the art scene of that time as vastly different from today's more professionalized art ecosystem, full of passionate people that did what they did not for money, but because they felt a calling. 'I didn't understand what kids learn with their MFA today, how to network, how to write emails, how to get curators into your studio. I thought my job was just to make art, and the art world was very small and very personal. You kind of met everybody.' He says he was friendly with the likes of Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. '(Warhol) would call me every Saturday at the studio and chat. I interviewed Jasper Johns for Interview (magazine), and I would walk over to Bob Rauschenberg's house at four o'clock in the morning and sit there and drink with him. It was a very different world. And it was more a world where you kind of made it up as you went along. None of us knew what we were doing, but we all knew we were doing something different.' Still, he always wanted to come back to Miami, the place he considers his true home. After nearly three decades in New York, in 2019, he returned to South Florida and has staged several shows since then, mostly with the Little River-based gallery PRIMARY. The MoCA show, his first solo museum exhibition in Miami for several decades and one that incorporates work from 'Pictures' to now, is something of a culmination for him. 'I've always wanted to do a major show in Miami, because it's the city that I really love,' he says. 'I had to leave Miami as a young artist, because there was no opportunity. There were no real museums, no galleries, no collectors. There was nothing here. So that's why I went to New York.' Smith mentions the progression of Miami's art museums. 'Whether it's the Rubell Museum, or Marty Margulies, or Art Basel – it's an extraordinary transformation that I don't know, that people appreciate, how it went from the desert to Tribeca in a generation or two.' For the artist, the retrospective at MoCA is important on many levels. 'It's a very meaningful show to me, because I feel it's giving back to Miami as a Miami person, and I'm not coming in as a New Yorker saying 'see how great I am.' I'm coming in and saying, 'I want to share with you what my life's been about.'' Smith's status as a Miami-born artist who spent much of his career in New York complements that of MoCA's other spring show, a New York-born artist who spent much of her life in South Florida. Vickie Pierre worked for Miami art institutions, including at the former Miami Art Museum (now PAMM) and as registrar at MoCA NoMi. But alongside that career, she also made art herself, and now her work is on view in the show 'The Maiden is the Warrior.' The exhibition zeros in on the artist's 'Poupées in the Bush' series, featuring amorphous black blobs with clearly defined feminine features, somewhere between figures and abstract forms. Some have fingers, horns, and other protrusions appended to their bodies. Others wear rings or are surrounded by floral assemblages. Reflecting the duality of womanhood as in the title of the show, the Poupées are meant to have a bit of softness as well as ferocity, according to curator Adeze Wilford. 'The thrust of our show is really about the duality of their forms. Like they can equally be these, very soft, reclining figures, kind of droopy and globular but also very, almost Rubenesque in how they're conceived of. But then there are some that have these very fierce bearings,' says Wilford. Though the two shows are quite distinct, Wilford, who is curating her final show for MoCA after moving to the Memphis Art Museum in January, hopes viewers will be able to envelop themselves in each. 'The way that I conceive of solo presentations is really that the artists are inviting you into their world, into how their brain is working, and so they're very different people, and we can see how things are unfolding for them both.' WHAT: 'Philip Smith: Magnetic Fields' and 'Vickie Pierre: The Maiden is the Warrior' WHERE: Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, 770 NE 125th St., North Miami WHEN: Noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Through Sunday, Oct. 5. COST: $10 for general admission; $5 for seniors, students with ID, ages 12 to 17, and disabled visitors; free for museum members, children under 12 years old, North Miami residents and city employees, veterans, and caregivers of disabled visitors. INFORMATION: 305-893-6211 and is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don't miss a story at
